SlugTerra University Part Three: Aftermath
by dicarten-ice
Summary: After SlugTerra University is destroyed and Jacob's memories gone, what will he do to recover them and destroy the Dark Bane's presence in SlugTerra? If you haven't read the first two books, I suggest you do before reading this. Formerly SlugTerra University Book Three.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, again, readers! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this ready, but here it is! If you haven't read the first two books, I suggest you do so.  
Disclaimer: I do not own SlugTerra, only my own characters and the story.  
****Elina, Dementia, Quora, and her family belong to JackieWinters.  
Leo and Save belong to Create-Gunner1209.  
Leon Blakk belongs to PLAINAWESOME.**

**Now, let's get on with the story!**

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Chapter 1: Awake

My life changed, well, it changed again, when SlugTerra University blew up. For those of you who don't remember, our group was returning from Leon Blakk's headquarters after his death at the hands of Dementia, Elina Shae's darker side. No sooner had we set a foot on the familiar campus than the statue of my uncle, Eli Shane, was blown to pieces by an unknown force.

We all froze in shock before every building blew up and erupted in flames, knocking us off of our Mechas. I was knocked away from the rest, and only had enough time to grab onto Speedy, Yang, and my fusion blaster before the rest of my slugs were blown away. I fell against a tree far away from the others and was knocked unconscious within seconds.

I woke up a few days later in an unfamiliar cavern surrounded by dozens of Boon Docs, Fandangos, and Speedy and Yang. They kept screaming my name when they saw I was awake, but I didn't even know they were calling my name, for the fall had caused me to lose my memory. I just looked at them in a confused manner and said, "Who's Jake?"

"Oh no…" Speedy muttered, looking in my eyes desperately.

"Who are you? What are you?" I demanded, looking at them with wide eyes.

Tears started to gather in Speedy's eyes before Yang stepped forward. "My name is Yang, and this is Speedy," he told me. "We are your slugs. You launch slugs like those around you in a blaster to unlock our powers. Your name is Jacob Taylor Shane. You lost your memory. We're going to do our best to make sure you can gain it all back, though."

I nodded, dumbfounded by the fact that slugs could even talk, yet at the same time, it made complete sense. Already, their names sent a few memories through my head: a young boy with dark blond hair and gray eyes chased a Speedstinger slug through a jungle before finally catching it. Two adults walked up to the boy and smiled down on him before explaining that it is best to ask the slug to join you. He did as they said, and the slug jumped onto his shoulder happily.

"I'll name you…Speedy!" the boy stated before hugging the slug.

"Speedy…" I whispered. I realized then that the boy in the memory was actually me. I also saw a memory of a boy chasing shadows created by a Negashade slug while it watched the boy happily. "Yang…"

They smiled at me. "You remember us," they whispered in unison. "This shows that your memories are already starting to return."

I nodded and sat up. "Where are we?" I asked.

"This is SlugTerra," Yang told me as I looked out of the cave we were in and saw a virtual slug paradise. Hundreds of slugs were everywhere. "This cavern is one of two hidden caverns. The other one is inhabited by two humans, like you. This one is only known to slugs and less than a handful of people that were ever allowed passage into this cavern. Of this era, you are the only person alive to have stepped into this sacred cavern. Legends say that the Lightwell is the source of all energy in SlugTerra, and they are true, although the energy flows directly through here. After you were knocked out, your energy drew numerous slugs out to bring you here to heal. Now that you have awoken, we must go about this very carefully as to not push you too much. We need to help you get your memory back as much as possible, and at that time, we will train you to become the most powerful Gifted in history, stronger even than the originals," he finished.

"Whoa, slow down," I told him, holding my head as I took in the information. "A little bit at a time."

He repeated what he said previously at a slower pace so that I could comprehend it all. He also explained what a 'Gifted' is.

"A Gifted is one of five humans that are born once every hundred years with extraordinary abilities in either strength, speed, intelligence, or technology. There are two born with strength abilities. You are one of them, and their leader," he explained to me. "You are also the Guardian of the Gift, the source of your power."

I nodded as I remembered what the Gift is. I could envision the strange light given off by the stone, reflecting off the walls of the cave it was located in.

"He is awake," I heard a slug chirp behind me. I turned around and saw a certain Boon Doc with light markings around his body. "You must not remember me," he commented. "I was Eli's slug, Doc."

I smiled as I remembered the name, picking him up. "How've you been?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "A bit sore from the explosion a few days ago, but fine," he replied.

Yang jumped in front of him. "How long do you think it'll take Jake to recover his memories?" he asked me.

"All of them? Hmm…a long time, at least five years," he said apologetically. "Unless…"

"Unless what?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "No, he'll need to be stronger to get past her son," he muttered to Yang, who nodded knowingly.

"UNLESS WHAT?" I demanded.

Doc sighed and turned to me. "Do you know who Elina Shae is?" he asked me.

I nodded slightly as the name brought up a face and basic information about her. "Yeah, why?" I asked him.

"There are more caverns beyond the 99 Caverns, known as the Eastern Caverns," he told me. "There is an Eastern Cavern equivalent of Elina, only her specialty is water. Her name is Quora Tsuyoi. She may be able to help you recover the rest of your memories, but to get her help, you must get past her son, Qai. He helps his father, Junjie, guard the cavern when unknown people enter."

I nodded as the name 'Junjie' also sparked a faint memory from years ago. Eli had told me the story of the Ghoul from Beyond, and how Junjie, the protector of the Eastern Caverns, helped him save SlugTerra multiple times, although after five years, he and Quora moved to a far-away cavern. The stories always awed me as a child, but as I grew up more, the stories were replaced by stories of Eli's more recent adventures.

"Why can't I go find them now?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "You would never be able to get past Qai. Besides, you are still weak from your injuries. You broke several ribs during the explosion. Besides, your amnesia caused you to lose your powers," he explained. "We need to help you recover them as well."

I sighed and nodded. "Fine."

Same time, Emma's POV…

"Any news about Jake's location?" I asked Luke as we continued the search for survivors of the blast. While we were gone, it turned out that Dark Bane had swept through and scared away everyone there, so we found them easily, but the slugs had stayed behind, so we were looking for them, and Jake, of course.

Luke shook his head slowly. "I can't find a single trace of him. It's like he disappeared," he told me solemnly.

I shook my head and grabbed a Rammstone that was trapped behind some rocks while Luke lifted the rocks out of the way. "We need to look again."

"Look where?" he asked me. "We've looked everywhere."

I sighed. "I know, but we can't give up. Somebody could've taken him away to a different cavern," I told him, although we both knew it wasn't a very good chance of it happening.

When the University blew up, we were all knocked back. Luke along was able to stay on his feet through the sheer luck of standing behind a surviving portion of Red Hook Hall that stayed unaffected. Everyone else, though, was injured in some way or another. Mark had a severe concussion, Vinyl had several broken ribs, Ms. Shane had a broken leg, and I had my arm in a sling. Boon Docs could only do so much, especially since Doc disappeared with Jake.

Jake.

I noticed that he was missing the moment we gathered together. We did a quick sweep of the surrounding area, and that was when his mother and I got really worried. Since then, Luke's been examining the entire cavern for any trace of him that he could track, but we haven't found anything except for his normal blaster, cracked by a boulder. His slugs all disappeared as well except for the ones that used to belong to Eli and Trixie, which returned to Leo, who also managed to evade the blast thanks to Save, his Pulter Slug. Save managed to press a button on his Mecha that caused it to brace itself and hold onto Leo, preventing him from suffering injuries.

We had been searching ever since we all regained consciousness, saving any slugs we came across. We never got a sign of Jake, though, other than Splat, his Jellyish, who managed to slip down a slug passage. He got Dune, his Sand Angler to follow it as far as possible, but it didn't even go as far as the edge of the cavern before the trail disappeared.

He just nodded and continued to walk around, looking for the slightest sign of his wherabouts.

We continued to search for him for three months, but no matter where we went, we couldn't find a word about where he went. Our efforts lessened, and we instead filled our time with helping out Kord, Pronto, and Ms. Shane in keeping the 99 Caverns safe. Six months after he disappeared, his weapons vanished from their hiding spots on his Mecha, which we recovered after the explosion. We never figured out where his swords and knives were at the time, but kept our eyes out for them as well. After almost a year, our efforts had dwindled to almost nothing, at least until we caught a hint of a trail one day...

almost a year later, Jake's POV...

During my time in the second hidden cavern, the slugs there pushed me to my limits and beyond, expanding my strength, endurance, and speed well past my previous limits. About six months after I woke up Yang and a few other Negashades managed to find my weapons, so I began training with them soon after. They would give me tests such as having to take down a variety of slugs in Mega-, Super-, and UltraMorph forms, although very few slugs could access UltraMorph: Guardian Slugs and near-Guardian slugs. Speaking of which, Speedy and Yang became Guardian Slugs after the third month of training, in which they also participated.

My memories started to return gradually over the months as well, but there were some things that I couldn't remember no matter how hard I tried. I could remember my family and what happened to Eli and Trixie, but I couldn't remember the moment when Mom told me that she's, well, my mother. I can remember every single detail about Emma, including our relationship, but I couldn't remember anything about Luke and Mark except for their names. Doc was very impressed by my progress in regaining my memories, but explained that they will not return fully unless I can get Quora to heal my mind.

After nearly a year of constant training in preparation of facing Quora's son, Qai, who has a life of training and experience in his favor.

"You've come very far, Jacob," Doc told me after 11 months of training. "You will leave to meet Quora tomorrow morning, and will arrive in her cavern in roughly two weeks, because she is in one of the easternmost caverns, which is very far away. We've gathered all the supplies you'll need for the trip, and extra rope in case you need it," he added, nodding toward a large backpacking bag. "Members of your original group of slugs will also meet up with you along the way, adding to your numbers. I will stay here, but Speedy, Yang, and your Riviera slug, River, will accompany you on your journey, as well as your Fandango slug, Dynamo, who will keep your energy requirement filled."

I nodded as Speedy, Yang, and Dynamo hopped onto my shoulders. "Thank you for doing all this for me," I told him. "You won't regret it."

He smiled and nodded. "I know," he replied simply.

I spent the rest of the day mapping out my journey, planning it so that I would avoid people at all costs. The planned route would take me practically right past the Hideout unless I wanted to travel a day out of my way. If nobody was home at the time in which I passed by, I'd probably stop in, restock, and grab Stryder, my Mecha, to shorten the journey considerably.

"Do you have it all mapped out?" Speedy asked from my shoulder.

I nodded. "I just hope that the rest of the team has been okay so far," I replied.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Speedy assured me. "They were your slugs, remember? They'd have to be tough to deal with you for two years."

I rolled me eyes and chuckled as I went through the supplies Doc gathered for me. It had a small tent, plenty of rations, some rope in case I would need it, a warm blanket, a small tarp, a heat source for cold nights, and a very large water bottle. It would be more than enough, and the heat source would only need to last me until I could find a Fire-element slug of mine.

"Will we have enough for the journey?" Yang asked me as I compared it to how much we'd need for the journey.

I nodded. "We'll have more than enough, fortunately," I told him as I sorted it all and organized it and placed it back in the large bag Doc found for it all. "So, are you guys ready to go?" I asked the four of them.

"Absolutely!" Dynamo chirped. "I can't wait to get out of here and actually do something!"

"Oh, it isn't that bad," River told him.

"Yeah!" Speedy agreed.

"Suck-up," Dynamo muttered to him.

Speedy blushed but stayed where he was as they bickered over whether the time in the cavern was fun or boring. During that time I just relaxed and greased my fusion blaster, making sure that it worked perfectly with the upgrades I added to it. I made sure it could handle the stress of a SuperMorphed fusion shot, and I even equipped it with strong enough accelerators so that it could shoot into SuperMorph without having to charge it with my own energy. I had to greatly strengthen the main shaft and, well, everything, or else it would've been destroyed by the sheer force in the accelerators.

That night, I pulled out a pair of glasses out of my pocket and put them on, activating the holographic screen so that I could look through the numerous pictures. The Holo-Glasses managed to survive the explosion, and after a bit of tinkering, I restored the hard drive. There were numerous photos of Emma and I having fun, as well as the numbers for Emma, all of my friends, Mom, and numerous other people.

"Are you ready to leave?" Doc asked as he appeared beside me.

I nodded, taking off the Glasses. "Yeah, thanks," I replied, placing the Glasses on top of my bag.

He nodded in approval. "Remember, you must not be seen by everyone," he told me. "We taught you how to use stealth in your movements, but some can still find you. You must also be sure to avoid your friends, as they will surround you and make it impossible to reach your destination at all. Luke must especially be avoided at all costs, as he has the ability to track anything."

"I know," I assured him as I leaned against the wall of the cave I was in. "Don't worry about it, it'll be fine," I added.

He had a skeptical look in his eye but just nodded and walked away, leaving me alone for the night.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early, ready to get going on the trip. I made sure once more that I was ready to go before Speedy, Yang, River, and Dynamo jumped into their slug tubes. I attached my swords and knives to my back for easy access, then launched a Thugglett slug at me to change my appearance so that I wouldn't be as easily recognized. To one of my friends, a single word from my mouth would give me away, so I'd just have to avoid them.

Anyway, I left the hidden cavern twenty minutes later, saying 'goodbye' to the slugs as I went before I took a hidden passage to the entrance, which is hidden behind a large boulder. Normally, there is a small entrance at the bottom for slugs, but I just slid the rock out of the way to get out, then pushed it back once I was out.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Leaving the Hidden Cavern

"Make sure you guys get comfortable," I told my slugs before I started toward my first destination, my house, at a well-paced jog that would be faster that a walk, but wouldn't tire me out as much as running.

"Which way from here?" Speedy asked me when we reached a point where three caverns met.

I looked at my map, then pointed toward the one on the left, which looked to be almost a desert.

"Jake!" I heard several slugs say by my feet halfway through the cavern.

I looked down, and saw Scorch, my Forgesmelter; Trench, my Diggrix; Gale, my Tormato; and Blaster, my Blastipede. "Hey, guys!" I replied, lowering my hands so that they could jump onto them. "How've you been?"

Scorch shrugged. "Not bad. There are a few families nearby that make sure we're properly fed, so there's nothing to complain about on this end. You?" he replied.

I smiled. "Eh, not too bad. Names and faces are coming back,but not as many as I'd like," I replied as they jumped into my backpack, which was just like my old one with the extra room for slugs, but was biger so that it could hold my supplies.

We continued to talk as I walked out of the cavern, although I drank my entire water bottle during our time there, so I refilled it by a river after we left the cavern before I continued.

By the time it was time to bed, I had passed through three of the fifteen caverns between me and my memories, so I set up the small tent I had, placed a sleeping bag in it, and quickly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep, only to be woken by Speedy shouting into my ear.

"WAKE UP!" Speedy screamed on my forehead in an effort to wake me up.

I bolted upright, launching him across the tent as I looked around. "Oh, okay," I muttered before I noticed Speedy lying on the ground. "You okay there, Speedy?" I asked him.

He nodded as he hopped up. "Yeah, fine. Now, let's go!" he told me.

I nodded and ate a bit of my rations, giving my slugs some slug food before we left.

Over the next day, I found numerous more slugs, totaling over half of my full arsenal by the time I passed into the cavern that the Hideout was in, late at night. Earlier that day, though, I had to cross a major roadway, although I was fortunate enough that nobody was there.

Emma's POV...

After about six months of constant searching, I'm ashamed to say that we gave up. We stopped almost all efforts to find Jake and started helping the Shane Gang whenever we could, although we welcomed any information about his whereabouts.

About a year after he disappeared, we were on a trip to another cavern to do some shopping when Luke froze in the middle of the road.

"What's wrong, Luke?" Mark asked him as I looked around for any signs of danger.

"That trail..." he whispered to himself before we understood.

"Follow it," the command came from Karina Shane, who had been with us. "We will follow it, but we mustn't scare him in case there's been a reason for him disappearing."

We nodded and Luke led, our Mechas creeping through the underbrush as we left the cavern and returned to a spot not far from the Hideout.

"If he's in the Hideout, we'll need someone fast enough to not be noticed," Karina said, turning to me.

I nodded as my eyes started to glow. "Leave it to me," I told her before I jumped off my Mecha and started running to the Hideout. There weren't any lights on, but I went in through the front door and silently made my way to Jake's room, where I sensed a presence. I drew my dagger and slowly approached the open door, where I also drew my blaster and loaded it with an Armashelt, slowly charging it.

The intruder must've heard it, though, because he spun around, swords pointed at me until we recognized each other, dropping our weapons.

"J-Jake?" I whispered. "Is that really you?"

Jake's POV...

"J-Jake?" the love of my life whispered. "Is that really you?"

I nodded slowly before we dove at each other, holding each other in a warm embrace for several minutes before we separated.

"W-What's happened to you?" she whispered, noticing the extra weight in muscle I had gained. "You look...stronger."

I nodded and smiled, cupping her cheek with my hand. "I've trained quite a bit since the explosion," I told her.

Her eyes filled with confusion as she backed away slightly. "Where have you been this entire time?" she asked me.

I hesitated, thinking of how to word my following phrase. "I was...training, and..." I sighed, "regaining my memories."

Her confusion increased. "What? What happened to your memories?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "The explosion caused amnesia," I explained. "I've been slowly regaining my memories, but there are still a lot of things I don't remember, like my father's name, my classmates, and what Luke and Mark look like," I added solemnly. "Over the year, Doc was surprised that I've been able to recover so much."

She nodded as she comprehended it. "Why have you been hiding, though?" she asked me.

"The slugs keeping me safe wanted to make sure I didn't see people I didn't recognize in case it created any problems," I told her. "I'm currently on my way to find a person that can recover the rest of my memories."

She nodded again and hugged me. "I'm just relieved that you're alive," she added, not releasing me for over ten minutes, but I didn't mind in the slightest.

"How did you know I would be here?" I asked Emma after a while.

She looked up at me. "Luke found your trail, so we followed at a distance. When we stopped for the night, we figured that you would stop by at the Hideout, but didn't want to scare you away, so they sent me as a scout," she explained.

I nodded as I understood it. "Well, you found me," I told her before I kissed her on the cheek. She turned at the last second, though, so that I kissed her full on the lips for a minute.

"Yes, I did," she told me, moving even closer to me. She lost her balance, though, falling into me. I wasn't expecting it, so we both fell backward onto the bed.

"S-s-sorry," she muttered, her face turning redder than a Rammstone.

I chuckled, holding her close to me. "I don't mind," I whispered in her ear. She smiled and curled up on my chest, laying her head next to mine.

I smiled and adjusted ourselves so that we were completely on the bed before we fell asleep like that. I had already removed my backpack, so my slugs were already sleeping in the slug beds on the walls around me.

When I woke up the next morning, I had forgotten about the previous night, but was quickly reminded by the sleeping beauty next to me, lightly snoring.

"Good morning, beautiful," I whispered toward her as she opened her eyes.

She smiled before the previous night dawned on her. "Jake!" she screamed, throwing her eyes around me. "Just wait until the others find out about you!"

I froze, removing her arms from around me. "Nobody can know," I told her. "I need to complete this on my own, or else the person I need to find might not welcome a large group of powerful teenagers arriving at her front door."

She paused, hesitant to leave me, but nodded, giving me a small pin. "Press the small button on the side, and I'll be by your side in seconds," she told me, attaching it to my shirt.

I nodded and kissed her once more before I grabbed my things and put my bag on my bag, my slugs already in it. "I need you to do your best to keep them as far from me as possible, Emma," I told her.

She nodded before she took off for the main group as I grabbed a bagel to eat before I went to the garage, where Stryder was parked, still spotless after a year.

"Ah, I missed you," I stated, jumping onto Stryder's back and pulling on the helmet. I started his engine and launched myself out of the open garage, weaving between trees as I continued on my path.

Once I was out of the cavern, I transformed it into sport bike mode, tripling my speed so that I flew by numerous people. I even thought that I saw Leo with his friends hanging by a popular teen hangout, and he shouted my name before I turned a corner and left him behind.

As I continued for the rest of the day, I crossed the rest of the caverns, much to our surprise, and gathered the rest of my slugs before I arrived at the edge of the final cavern, where Quora lives.

"Let's rest for the rest of the day so that we'll be completely prepared for tomorrow," I told my slugs as I shut down Stryder and set up a sleeping bag, set so that my back would be to Stryder's side.

"I wonder what Quora's son will be like," Yang commented.

I looked over to him. "Oh, yeah, I forgot that you knew her," I muttered. "What's Quora like?"

He shrugged. "She was kinda like Elina, but a bit more shy at times," he replied. "It's been a long time, though, so she may have changed since then."

I nodded and adjusted my position before I fell asleep, impatient for my confrontation with Quora's son, Qai.

When I woke up the next morning, I ate a few rations and made sure to stretch well before I left Stryder outside the cavern entrance and slowly walked in so as to not scare anybody. Quora must have sensed me, though, because the sound of a blaster charging appeared next to my head.

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**A/N: Hello, readers! Sorry it took me so long to update, but I pushed myself to complete another chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own SlugTerra, only my story and characters.**

**Elina, Quora, and Qai belong to JackieWinters, thanks Jackie!**

**Leo Shane belongs to Create-Gunner1209, thanks dude!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Qai**

"Don't even think of reaching for your weapons," a male voice, around my age, commanded.

I chuckled. "You're wide open," I whispered before I spun around, disarming and modifying his blaster before I placed it back in his hands, faster than he could register. His finger tightened for a second, launching the unfamiliar slug at me, although my simple modification flipped the barrel around, launching the slug at him and freezing himself solid.

A few seconds later, though, before I could react, a MegaMorphed Infernus slug flew in and thawed out the guy, most likely Qai, before it returned to its slinger, the famous Junjie, protector of the Eastern Caverns.

"Careful, that's my son you're attacking," he growled at me as he loaded the Infernus, Juju, into his blaster and activated the accelerator.

I grinned as I loaded Speedy and Yang into my fusion blaster, which I split and aimed at him.

He paused. "A fusion blaster?" he whispered as I activated my powers and charged the two balsters to UltraMorph.

I grinned wider. "MegaMorph, how outdated," I whispered before we launched our slugs. Speedy and Yang joined into a completely black Speedstinger with a trace of light on his back as he left a trail of smoke, and surrounded Junjie with smoke before the fusion slug knocked away Juju and used the extra time to knock Junjie's blaster away.

"You've got no idea who you're dealing with," I told him as I loaded Brisingr and aimed it at his head, although Qai launched his strange slug at me, freezing me solid as Junjie got up. My eyes lit up and I shattered the ice, launching Thorn, my Dirt Urchin, to pin him to the ground by his shirt while not harming him.

"I suggest you put down the weapons, boy," Junjie growled as he launched a Dirt Urchin at me.

I smiled and dropped the staff, throwing knives at every spike launched at me, splitting them in two while negating the momentum of every spike before I used Nuker, my Grenuke, to try to blow Junjie away, but a whip of water swatted away as I felt a large mental presence, freezing me in place.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY DO YOU DARE ATTACK MY FAMILY?" the voice yelled in my mind as I saw an older woman, around Junjie's age, with brown hair and green eyes approach me, blaster drawn with a slug simmilar to Qai's in the barrel.

I slowly held out my hand. "Name's...Jacob...Taylor...Shane..." I growled as I struggled to push off her mind. She noticed this and ceased the pressure, allowing me to talk and move freely. "Are you Quora Tsuyoi?" I asked her, using the name Doc gave me.

She nodded slowly. "The slugs that kept you safe contacted me about you," she told me. "I don't appreciate you attacking my family, though," she added.

I shrugged and pointed over my shoulder to Qai. "Well, hotshot over there threatened me first, and I don't like being threatened, so I retaliated, and it gradually turned into this entire thing," I told her before turning to Junjie. "I apologize for any harm I caused," I told him, bowing.

He nodded. "So, are you Eli's son?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "No, I'm Karina's," I replied. "I don't really remember them except for this picture," I added, holding out a picture I grabbed from the Hideout containing my parents and I moments after I was born."

He nodded and smiled. "I can see it now. Anyway, where are Eli and Trixie?" he asked me.

I lowered my head. "They were killed by Leon Blakk," I replied.

His eyes widened. "Oh," he whispered before Quora walked up to me.

"I need you to come with me if you wish for your memories to be fully restored," she told me before turning around and walking toward a wooden shack not far away, with steam rising slowly from a hole in the roof.

When we got to the room, a little girl raced out and into Quora's arms. "The preparations are all ready, Mom!" she told Quora before she noticed me. Her eyes widened and she automatically dove behind her mother.

Quora simply lightly laughed and patted the girl's head. "You have no need to fear, Jazira, he is a friend, the one that we are doing this for," she explained to the girl, Jazira. She gradually nodded before running away, back to Junjie, as Quora and I continued to the shack, and upon opening, it revealed a hot spring.

We had been inside it for about five seconds when Quora began to back out. "I need you to strip to your boxers and sit in the hot spring," she told me through the closed door. "It has healing properties, and will help me.

I nodded and began removing my backpack, shoes, jacket, shirt, pants and socks until I was standing only in my boxers, when I climbed into the spring and sat on a natural seat by the edge. The water was hot almost to the point of scalding me, but I could stand it, so I whistled to let Quora know I was ready.

"Okay, I'll need you to relax your body and your mind," she told me as she sat behind me, placing her hands on my temples. "I cannot guarantee that this will return all of your memories, but in the very least it will return the majority of them," she explained. "Be patient with me, though, because this is the first time I've worked with a person's memories."

I tensed up slightly at that, but forced myself to relax.

"Now, I need you to fall asleep so that I will have less resistance accessing your mine," she continued. "When you wake up, I guarantee that you will at least have more memories."

"What if I don't have more memories?" I asked her.

"In that case, the procedure would most likely kill you, so you wouldn't even wake up," she explained before applying slight pressure to the base of my neck, knocking me out cold.

While I was sleeping, I could hear strange words being whispered into my mind as the energy throughout me started to change its course, flowing to different parts of my mind. Every few seconds I felt a jolt of pain run through me, but I got through it and focused and staying relaxed. However, I soon sensed new images and videos runnnig through my mind. I grabbed one of them (subconsciously) and saw a video of when I almost died and talked to my father, Jacob Taylor.

Wait, I remember his name when only days ago I had no idea what it was! Woo!

As the procedure continued, memories began pouring through my mind at an insane rate. The sensation I got from it changed from happiness to a slight twinge of pain, to a full-on rush of body-crushing pain that made my body involuntarily tense up as my subconscious sought to protect me from whichever attack this was.

"Jacob, you need to relax, or else things will get even worse!" Quora shouted, bringing me back from my sleep.

I opened my eyes slightly. "It...hurts..." I groaned before the pain intensified. It was then that my powers jumped in, surrounding us in a defensive blue nexus of energy.

Same time, Emma's POV...

As we traveled through yet another cavern, Luke sensed that Jake was slowing down, a sign that he was nearing his target.

"Where do you think he went?" Leo asked us. He joined us after claiming to have seen Jake fly by on Stryder while he was in sports bike mode. The others soon realized I was lying to them about not having seen Jake, and dragged all the information out of me.

Luke shrugged. "No clue," he began when we sensed a giant spike in energy nearby.

To be more specific, Jake's energy.

"JAKE!" I screamed, hitting full throttle on my Mecha so that I was almost flying across the ground until I saw Jake's Mecha parked outside a cavern. I stopped next to it and ran into the cavern, where I saw a small wooden shack on top of a hill being guarded by two men, one of which is our age. I could sense Jake's energy spiking inside the shack, though, and the blue sphere of energy slowly growing around it was another clue.

"I'm coming, Jake!" I yelled as I activated my powers, sprinting up to the guys and flinging the door open to find Jake lying in a hot spring in his boxers, another woman behind him with her hands on his temples, attempting to soothe him at the same time.

"We have to calm him down," the woman told me, apparently having realized who I was.

I nodded and appeared by his side, hand on his shoulder. "Jake, you need to calm down and control your energy," I told him.

He opened his eyes slightly. "Emma?" he whispered in surprise.

I nodded and kissed his cheek slightly. "If this is the woman you said could get your memories back, you need to calm down so that you don't hurt her or anyone else."

He tried to nod but groaned in pain as his energy intensified. "The pain...it hurts...so much," he groaned.

I started to cry then, hearing how much pain he was in, but nodded. "Don't worry, it'll be over soon," I told her before placing my hand on the woman's shoulder. "I'll give you a boost so that this can end sooner," I told her, openly crying as my eyes glowed brighter and a small nexus of yellow energy encompassed the three of us, although all the energy was focused on the woman.

"Jake! Emma!" I heard Luke and Leo yell from outside the shack before slugs were being fired.

"Stay back! It's okay in here!" I screamed back at them, hoping to keep them away before I turned to the woman. "How much longer will it take?" I asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders slightly. "At least five minutes," she said. "It sounds like the men that came with you aren't faring well against my husband and son," she added.

I smiled slightly. "They won't go down easily, I can assure you of that," I told her. "Leo is a Shane, and Shane's never give up. Luke, well, he was one of the best in the class, second only to Jake and I," I added.

She nodded. "I just hope that they don't carry weapons like Jacob did," she replied. "We only have blasters."

I nodded as realization dawned on me. I grabbed my communication device. "Guys, blasters only! We don't want to cause unnecessary harm!" I told them.

"Got it!" Leo yelled back. "Man, these guys are good!"

I nodded slightly before Quora started to look faint, when I gave her more of my energy.

She shook her head. "If you continue to use your energy to help me, the drain on your own body will kill you," she told me.

This time, it was my turn to shake my head. "I'll deal with it, and I'd do anything to help Jake," I told her.

She nodded solemnly before she removed her hands from Jake, telling me she was done. When I looked back at Jake, though, I was surprised by a large, black tattoo covering his right arm and the right side of his chest.

"That's a side effect of the procedure I used on him," she told me. "It won't affect his abilities in any way. Now, it is time to go stop the fighting while Jacob recovers. From here on, it is all up to him to decide whether he will live or die."

I nodded sadly before we walked out the door, supporting ourselves as we drew our blasters, only to be dumbstruck by the appearance of two women, both of which seemed to have knocked the rest of them out without being heard.

"Ms. Shane?" I asked the same moment the Quora squealed, "ELINA!"

Elina Shae grinned and they ran toward each other before tackling each other in a giant hug. "Oh, I missed you so much!" Quora told her. "It's been so long since we've seen each other!"

Elina smiled. "Only a few months, when I came to ask if you'd seen Jake Shane," she replied as Ms. Shane walked up to me.

"Where's Jake?" she asked me.

I jerked my thumber over my shoulder, at the shack. "He's recovering from his memories returning," I told her. "I'm sure he'll be fine, though."

She nodded hesitantly before she walked into the shack and knelt behind Jake, closing her eyes.

I smiled and turned back to Elina and Quora. "So...um...you know each other?" I asked them.

They nodded. "You could consider Quora as the Eastern Caverns equivalent of me," Elina told me. "Some claim that she's more powerful, but I still doubt that."

Quora laughed. "Oh, I could take you any day once my energy recovers!" she replied. "By the way, what did you do to everyone?" she asked Elina.

Elina shrugged. "I sent out a mental wave to knock out everyone in the area when we arrived," she explained. "The energy that Jacob was outputting, though, must have blocked the attack from hitting you guys."

Quora nodded. "That makes sense," she muttered before she woke them all up.

We spent the next few hours trying to create peace between our group and Quora's family, as they still wanted to continue the fight, but we managed to dissuade them when we learned that Junjie was the hero of the Eastern Caverns.

"Hey, but Jake beat both of them by himself!" Leo protested. "If he can do it, so can I!"

Junjie shook his head. "I could tell that he had trained extensively while he was gone, and his fusion blaster helped him by quite a bit," he explained. "His skill is beyond any level I've seen. His father would be proud."

Karina smile when she heard that, but we all spun around when we heard a voice.

"Hey, do guys have any food? I'm hungry," Jake muttered.

* * *

**A/N: Hello, everybody! I'm finally starting to get over my block (knock on wood), so here's the latest chapter!**

**Disclaimers: I do not own SlugTerra, only my characters and the plot.**

**Leo Shane belongs to Create-gunner1209. Thanks, dude!**

**Quora and her children belong to JackieWinters. Thanks, Jackie!**

**Karina Shane belongs to Aist Elixie Fan Shane. Thanks!**

**And, last of all, thanks all of you reviewers! Don't forget to leave a review at the bottom!**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Awake

* * *

Jake's POV...

When I woke up, I was in the hot spring I fell asleep in, but I could hear people talking outside, so I dried myself off and pulled on some pants and shoes.

"His father would be proud," I heard Junjie say before my stomach started to growl.

"Hey, do you guys have any food?" I asked, causing them to turn around. "I'm hungry."

I saw Mom's eyes widen before she ran at me, tackling me in a hug. "Jake, you're okay!" she yelled happily before she realized something. She released me, stepped back, and smacked me across the face.

"Um...ow?" I muttered as the pain registered. "What was that for?" I demanded.

She glared at me. "Where were you this entire time?" she shouted. "You've had us so worried, we thought you might be dead!" she added, tears flowing.

I lowered my gaze until I was looking at the ground. "The explosion knocked me away from you guys, so some slugs found me and took care of me. The injuries I sustained caused amnesia, so I've spent the last year training to regain my powers and trying to get my memories back, but I came here to get the rest of them back, and it worked," I explained before they noticed the tattoo on my chest and arm. "Oh, that's a side effect of all the energy pumped into me to unlock my memories," I added, grabbing a shirt to pull on. It was a bit smaller than normal, though, so all it did was to emphasize my muscular figure. "So, what've you guys been up to for the last year?" I asked them.

Leo stepped forward. "We've been looking for you, of course," he told me. "Ever since the University was destroyed, we've been looking for you and doing our best to take care of SlugTerra. The Dark Bane haven't made any moves yet, though, but we're keeping an eye out for them in case they do. Now that you're back in, though, they'll probably start moving."

I chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Since when did you get so mature?" I asked him sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes and punched me lightly on the shoulder. "Ah, shut up," he replied with just as much sarcasm.

I chuckled and smiled. "I missed you too, Leo," I told him.

He smiled and nodded before Luke and Mark walked up to me. "So, you decided to get some training, huh?" Luke asked me.

I nodded, noticing that he was much more muscular as well. "Same to you," I replied. "We should spar sometime."

He nodded before Mom's voice rang out. "What are you going to do now, Jake?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "I'll probably help you guys. What did you tell everyone when they asked where I am?" I asked them.

Luke chuckled. "We said that you were away to train intensively," he replied. "Looks like we weren't exactly wrong."

I smiled. "Well then, looks like we'll have to tell everyone of my return," I stated before Quora placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Jacob, you need to take it easy," she told me. "After regaining your memories, your body needs to heal from the stress it went through. You used up most of your energy during the process."

I smiled as my eyes lit up. "I've got plenty of energy left, don't worry about it," I told her before my stomach growled again, causing my face to heat up in embarrassment.

Quora laughed as Junjie smiled. "I've got some food cooking, let's eat," she told us, gesturing to a house not far from our location.

We nodded and followed her, Junjie, and their children to the house.

"So, Qai," I began as I walked next to Qai. "Sorry about beating you and everything."

He nodded. "The past is the past," he stated simply.

I nodded. "So, did you and Junjie beat my friends?" I asked them.

He nodded. "We almost had them on the ropes, but they were very good," he replied.

"Yeah, they're pretty good," I replied. "Leo's a Shane, it's in his blood, Luke's one of the best slinger's I've known, and Mark's got a very analytical mind, so he could figure out the perfect strategy," I explained.

"Their eyes glowed like yours," he added. "Why is this?"

I sighed. "Emma, Luke, Mark, and I are four out of five people with great gifts," I explained. "Mark's got the gift of intelligence, Luke and I have strength, and Emma has speed."

He paused for a second, then continued. "Who's the fifth?" he asked me.

"Vinyl Rose," I replied. "She has the ability to control technology," I explained. "We don't really hang out very much, though."

"Actually, Vinyl was one of the people that helped us most in trying to find you," Luke told me. "She accessed every picture and video she could and searched them for you, but you didn't appear in any of them."

I nodded. "That's because I stayed in the same cavern the entire year," I replied. "There were no electronics there except what I had on me. Even then, the cavern was blocked from electric signals, so they couldn't be traced if they wanted."

He nodded in understanding before holding out my blaster. "You should probably have this back," he stated.

I nodded and accepted it, holstering the blaster on my waist before we arrived at the house. We all flooded inside and gathered around a large table with eleven spots set out.

"How did you know that all of us would be here?" I asked Quora as we sat down.

She smiled and looked at Elina. "I have my sources," she stated simply.

I looked at Elina, shocked. "Wait, you knew I was coming here?" I asked her.

She nodded. "The slugs trust me more than anyone else, maybe Quora," she explained. "They told me about you and asked that I keep it a secret. When I was told about you leaving the cavern, I called Quora and let her know that all of us were most likely going to be there so that she could be ready."

I nodded as Mom almost freaked out on her. "Wait, you knew where Jake was, and you DIDN'T TELL US?" she almost screamed at her.

Elina nodded. "Yes. The slugs told me not to tell anybody, as it could cause even more damage to Jake's mind if he were to meet people he had no memory of," she whispered. "It hurt me to keep the truth from you, but I did what was best."

Mom looked like she was ready to jump across the table at her, but Luke and I, who were sitting on either side of her, placed a hand on her shoulders, holding her down. "Don't worry about it, she's telling the truth," I told her. "When I learned about what was happening in SlugTerra I wanted to race out here, but the slugs told me the same thing, so I didn't."

She sighed and relaxed slightly, leading us to release her as she sat back in her chair. "I understand," she stated quietly.

Elina smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Karina, but it was for the best," she replied.

Mom just nodded and began eating the soup that Quora and Jazira began pouring into our bowls.

"Wow, this stuff is amazing, thanks!" Leo told her as he had some.

Quora smiled. "Thank you, it was my grandmother's recipe," she replied.

I nodded as I ate some. "Well, your grandmother must have been an amazing cook," I said.

She smiled again and nodded sadly. "Yes, she was," she replied before Qai let out a large belch, causing her to smack him lightly. "Qai, you know better than that!" she snapped at him.

He smiled guiltily as Leo grinned evilly. "Don't even think about it, Leo," I told him, throwing an Arachnet to stick his mouth shut. He just tore it away, though, and let out an even larger belch, causing Luke to smack him.

"Idiot," Luke growled, causing us to burst out laughing.

The rest of the meal went by without incident, and afterwards, Luke told me about everything that happened after I disappeared. The cavern Blakk's headquarters is located in became shrouded in darkness. Anybody who enters never leaves.

"Well, now we know where they are," I stated. In their spare time, they trained at every spare moment. Also, the secret was spilt to Mom about our weapons.

"Um...sorry for keeping a secret?" I said to her.

She sighed. "I was pissed when I heard, but realized it was for the best," she explained. "I did recommend, though, that they not reveal the weapons to anybody else."

I nodded. "Understandable," I replied. "So, what's our next move?" I asked her.

"We need to return to the Hideout and plan our next step there," Mom told me before turning to Quora and Junjie. "Quora, Junjie, I know you came to this cavern to stay out of SlugTerra's problems, but could you consider coming out of retirement to help us one more time?" she asked them.

Quora and Junjie sighed. "I'm sorry, Karina, but we made ourselves a promise to stay out of SlugTerra's problems. Plus, we have two kids to take care of, and we don't want them getting hurt," Quora stated.

"I'm sure Qai could survive," I stated, fist-bumping Qai. "He's a good slinger, even with his limited arsenal."

Junjie smiled. "He always wanted to grow up to be a hero," he replied before a frown formed. "We still don't want to take any chances, though, I'm sorry."

Mom nodded. "I understand, Eli, Trixie and I all didn't want him to get involved in case he got hurt. I wish you luck in the future, then," she added, standing up and turning to the rest of us. "Let's get going."

We nodded and stood up, grabbing our gear.

"Good luck in your adventures, wherever they may take you," Quora replied before we left the cavern, climbing onto our Mechas and riding away.

"I'll let Vinyl know we found you!" Mark called out to us as he dialed a number on his Holo-Glasses.

We arrived at the Hideout five hours later, Mom leading the group with Luke on my right, Emma at me left, and Mark in the back so that people wouldn't see me.

When we got back, Kord, Pronto, and Kaiya were waiting.

"Why am I here?" Kaiya growled when she saw us, stopping in surprise when she saw me. "So, you're alive?" she asked me.

I shrugged and touched my chest. "Well, it seems so," I replied sarcastically, so she gave me a withering look as we stopped and Kord lifted me off of Stryder's back in a bone-crushing hug.

"Jake, bro, where've you been?" he asked me when he set me down.

"Training," I replied, which was the truth. He looked at me doubtfully but Mom nodded, so he grinned.

"Well, it's good to have you back," he replied as we walked in.

"I'll be going, now," Kaiya began when Mom fired Saphira right in front of her face.

"I asked you here so that you could be included in what we're going to talk about," she snapped at Kaiya. "I'm sure you never want something like Healer Caverns to happen again, right?"

Kaiya froze, giving Mom a glare that would've made a Darkbane run for the hills. "_We all agreed never to talk of Healer Caverns_," she hissed, her face full of rage.

Mom crossed her arms. "Well, would you want somebody else to have to deal with that?" she asked.

Kaiya's glare continued for a minute before she sighed, lowering her head as she climbed off Black Skies' back.

"Did that have to do with Healer Caverns getting destroyed before I was born?" I asked Kord quietly, having heard of Healer Caverns once before.

"You don't want to know," he replied as we sat down in the main area.

"Alright, what do you want to talk about?" Pronto asked Mom.

"Now that Jake is back, the full team is back," Mom began. "The Darkbane will soon hear of this and make a move. Whether they do or not, we need to come up with a plan. Kaiya and Kord, I need you two to talk to your contacts at all of the forges, see if they can help us and upgrade our Mechas for the future. Luke, you'll help them with that."

"Okay," Luke and Kord replied as Kaiya muttered, "Sure."

"Pronto, I need you to gather the Molenoids; see if they'll fight with us. If so, go to the Warehouse and arm them," she told Pronto.

"Pronto will not let you down!" he declared.

"Wait, warehouse?" I asked Mom.

She nodded. "Ever since the first Blakk was sent to the Deep Caverns, Eli and I have kept a secret warehouse loaded with blasters, Mechas, and enough gear to launch a war in case we needed it," she explained to me before turning to Mark. "Mark, I need you and Vinyl to work on gathering intelligence about what the Darkbane are doing," she told him. "Hack cameras, use cameras, do whatever you can while staying out of sight."

He nodded. "Can-do, Ms. Shane," he told her before she turned to Emma, Leo and I.

"What're we going to do?" I asked her.

She smiled. "We need to bring up the morale of SlugTerrans," she explained. "Being without their idol has been bad."

"I-I'm their...idol?" I whispered.

Mom nodded. "You saved the University once, the people gave you the credit for Leon Blakk's death. To them, you are the new Shane. To bring their morale up, we are going to wait for the next distress call, which you are going to lead Leo, Emma, and I for. This will show them that their hero has returned, and may increase the amount of people that will rally to our cause. After that, Leo, Emma, and I will work on recruiting people to help us, and I need you to focus on upgrading our blasters to be like Leo's," she explained.

I sighed. "I don't know if I can create another blaster like that," I explained to her. "When I did, it was very hard, and even then, I had the University's advanced technology. That place also had the largest repository for concentrated slug energy."

"Second largest," Mark corrected me. "Futura Cavern is both more advanced and better suited. I can get my dad to let you use his lab."

"How big's his lab?" I asked him.

He chuckled. "I forgot I never told you guys who my dad is," he commented. "My father is the head of Futura Cavern's Division of Blaster Research, Matthew Smith."

"Whoa, dude!" Luke exclaimed. "You should've told us you were so well-connected with other geniuses!"

Mark shrugged humbly. "He first wanted me to study Blaster Tech, but was fine with me changing my decision. I'll show you to his lab and talk things over with him later," he told me before Mom's communicator went off, informing her of the Hooligang robbing the mall.

"They've gotten bolder lately," I commented as we all left to do what we had to do.

Mom nodded. "Most groups have when they learned you were gone, but now we can put them back in line," she stated as we left and took off for the mall.

"Wow, it's been a while since we've hung out here," I commented when we arrived.

"Yeah, like, a year," Emma stated, making me roll my eyes as we jumped off our Mechas and walked into the Mall, where a bunch of people were herded together with the Hooligang holding them at blaster-point.

"It's the Shane Gang!" Billy shouted when he saw the others, then froze when he saw me. Before he could say anything, though, I loaded Speedy and fired him. He quickly reached velocimorph and bounced off of Billy's head, as well as those of the rest of the Hooligang, knocking them all out at once.

"Show-off," Emma muttered as we untied the hostages.

"Wait, are you...?" one of them gasped when she saw me.

I nodded and smiled heroically as I stood up. "I, Jacob Shane, have returned to help the citizens of SlugTerra!" I exclaimed.

"Will his head fit through the door after this?" Leo whispered to Mom. "It's getting pretty big, along with his ego."

I rolled my eyes at him as the hostages were untied and swarmed us, thanking us for helping them. It took us a few hours for things to settle down at the mall, so when we left, we were exhausted.

"I never knew being a hero could be so demanding," I commented as I cradled my hand, which was sore from shaking hands the entire time.

"But you were 'helping the citizens of SlugTerra'!" Leo joked.

I chuckled. "Yeah, yeah," I replied as we left the cavern.

We arrived back at the Headquarters a few hours later, where Mark and Vinyl had set up shop, computers and equipment everywhere.

"So, you really are back," Vinyl muttered when she saw me before turning back to her computer screen. "Mark, are you picking up any readings on the scanner?" she asked Mark.

Mark shook his head. "No. I'm adjusting it to pick up anti-slug energy, but it's only picking up the giant blob that is the darkness."

"What're you two doing?" I asked them.

Mark looked up at me. "Vinyl put together a rover with a bunch of sensors and scanners on it to send to the cavern, but we can't even breach the entrance. It seems that they've constructed a forcefield of some kind over the entrance. It can't get past it, so we're trying to scan it from outside, but that's not working, either," he explained. "We're planning on collecting energy samples of the forcefield next."

"Cool," I said, sitting down on an empty seat.

"Mark, once you're able to, can you take Jake to your father's lab?" Mom asked him.

Mark nodded and typed a few more things before standing up. "This is the only time I can leave, so let's go now," he told me.

"Whose blaster are you going to work on first?" Mom asked me before we left.

"Mine," I replied. "I want to reach UltraMorph using less energy. I also plan on upgrading my fusion blaster as well. After that, I'll just call one of you at random," I added before we walked out, jumped on our Mechas, and took off for Futura Cavern.

* * *

**A/N: Hello, everybody! Here's the next chapter! I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but life's been busy lately. I plan to update more regularly, though, so yay!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own SlugTerra, only my characters and this story.**

**Elina, Quora, and Quora's kids belong to JackieWinters. Thanks, Jackie!**

**Leo belongs to Create-Gunner1209. Thanks, dude!**

**Kaiya belongs to Hills-to-Sky. Thanks!**

**Karina belongs to Aist EliXie Fan Shane. Thanks!**

**Lastly, thanks to all you readers for sticking with me for this entire series!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Lab

We arrived at Futura Cavern about twenty minutes later because of our vehicle modes.

"My father's lab is right there," he told me, pointing to one of the larger buildings in the cavern. He led me straight to it and opened the door cautiously. "Dad? Are you home?" he called out.

"I'm in here, Mark!" a voice replied from behind the door to the lab. We walked up to it and Mark entered a code, which let us in. "Ah, you must be Mr. Shane!" he exclaimed when he saw me. He walked up to us and shook my hand, hugging Mark afterward. "Mark already told me that you needed my lab, so it's all ready," he told me, gesturing to the awesomeness that is his lab.

I nodded. "Thank you. Where do you keep your concentrated slug energy?" I asked to begin with, so he showed me to a large vault, pointing out each and every machine on the way. When we reached the vault he opened it and revealed a surprise.

"_Vitalis Crystals?_" Mark and I both asked.

He nodded. "Futura is currently sitting over the largest Vitalis Crystal deposit in all of SlugTerra," he explained. "Even then, each of us is only allowed so many Crystals a week to prevent the mine from drying up. Some of the smarter researchers, such as I, stockpile our crystals, even when we don't use them, in case they're needed for larger projects. The slug energy is right here," he added, pulling out a box about half the size of the safe. He opened it and, inside, were about fifty large bottles of concentrated slug energy.

"I'm fairly sure this isn't regulation," Mark stated.

"Well, the Blaster Research Department is always in constant need for slug energy for projects as well, so we got a grant that vastly increased our energy stores. It's all completely safely harvested, too. All Fandango slugs secrete energy at a constant rate. All we do is collect small amounts at a time, not enough to kill the slug, but enough for one drop of concentrated energy," he explained. "So, where shall we begin?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, Mr. Smith, but I have to do this alone," I told him, taking the box.

"What?" he demanded. "The creation of one of the most powerful blasters of SlugTerra, and I'm not allowed to watch."

I shrugged. "Only one person watched me make one the last time I did this, and he was my mentor, sorry," I replied before Mark pulled him out and placed the room under lockdown, only able to be opened from the inside.

"Now, time to get to work," I told myself, bringing up data about Leo's Super Blaster and my own. I would have to make each and every one by scratch, but they would need to match the other blaster as well as possible for a seamless transition. As it was, I planned on adding numerous additions to mine, such as mods that would pop out from the blaster whenever I would need them.

As I went to work, days started to become meaningless. The lights were always on, throwing off my sense of time, and whenever I got tired, I simply fired Dynamo at myself or drink an energy drink. The numerous modifications were proving difficult, but I would figure it out as Red Hook's student.

One week later, Karina's POV...

"Mark, have you heard anything new on Jake?" I asked Mark one day. It had been a week since Jake left, and I was getting worried. We would bring up illusions of him firing slugs whenever we had to deal with a crime, and Emma would be in his place because she and Leo knew his dueling style the best.

Mark shrugged. "He hasn't contacted the outside world since he entered that lab, but I'm sure he's fine," he told me. "He's your son, after all."

I smiled and thanked him before sitting on the couch to worry some more. The last time I hadn't seen in in several days, he went missing for a year. I wasn't very eager for history to repeat itself in that way.

Another day went by before I got a call on my Holo-Glasses from an unknown number, so I hesitantly answered. "Hello?" I asked.

"Hey, Mom," Jake's voice replied. "Sorry I couldn't use my Glasses, but they're recharging from constant use."

I smiled. "It doesn't matter. Where've you been all this time?" I asked him.

"I'm been working," he replied simply. "Well, yesterday I was sleeping, but anyway, I finished my blasters."

I smiled wider. "That's great!" she told me. "Whose are you going to work on next?"

I heard him chuckle. "Why do you think I'm calling you?" he asked me. "When you get here, I also have a surprise for you," he added before ending the call.

"Everybody, I'm off for Futura," I told them all as I holstered my blaster and Saphira jumped on my shoulder. I wouldn't need any other slugs with me for the simple trip, so I left then and went full speed to the Cavern.

A few minutes later, Jake's POV...

As I waited for Mom to arrive, I looked over my surprise for her. Inspired by her skill for long range weaponry (bow and arrows she used to use), I had a feeling she would love it. It took me a couple days to whip it together with the necessary modifications and accelerators, and once that was done, I slept for a full day to recover from a week without sleep.

"I think she'll love it," Yang assured me as I continued to look over it.

"Are you sure?" I asked him. "She's never even mentioned wanting something like this."

He nodded. "I'm sure," he told me before the door opened behind me and Mom called out my name.

"Jake?" she called out, so I spun around and looked at her. "So, what've you got for me?" she asked me.

I smiled and lifted her gift, handing it to her.

"It's...a sniper rifle?" she asked me.

I nodded. "I know you used to use long-range weaponry when you were our age, so I gave you a blaster to match," I explained. "There's a scope, a suppressor to hide the firing noise, and I even hand-painted the Shane symbol on it," I added, pointing to the stock, on which I painted the Shane Star. "There a small slot on the side to load slugs in, and I even got some long-range sniper tubes," I told her, pulling out a box with twenty strange-looking tubes. "They use a special system. The tube stays with the slug after you launch them, and after a certain distance, it opens up and uses air pressure built up in it to launch the slug even farther. The slugs can only reach MegaMorph, but it's still pretty good if you need to hit a target a long ways away."

She smiled and pulled out the tubes. "They're pretty clever," she commented. "These guys in Futura are geniuses," she added before noticing how the metal seemed to glow slightly. "What's that from?" she asked me.

I smiled guiltily. "I crushed some Vitalis crystals into powder and mixed them into the liquid metal used. I call the new alloy 'VitaliSteel', and it's way more durable and lighter than normal steel," I explained.

She narrowed her eyes. "Where did you get the Vitalis Crystals?" she demanded.

"Sorry, but that's something I can't tell you," I told her, imagining the havoc if the people of SlugTerra learned of the giant Vitalis deposit.

"Fine, but make sure nobody else finds out about it," she replied, handing me her main blaster.

"Okay," I replied, setting her blaster on the table as she lifted the sniper blaster and put it over her back, the box of sniper shells fastened to the back of her Mecha.

"I want that back when you're done," she told me. "That blaster and I've gone through a lot."

"I know, it'll be fine," I assured her before she walked out and I went back to work. I made sure her original blaster was working fine, picking out dirt and other contaminants from the core. The core was so old, though, that I was surprised it hadn't already broken, so I replaced it with a newer version that would last her longer before creating a 3-D scan of her blaster. The Super version of it would be almost identical, but I made it more streamlined and easier to use. It didn't take me as long for me to build it this time since it wouldn't have as many additional modifications as my own, so I called her to get them both before I settled in to make a couple more for Leo. Since both Mom and I have additional blasters as well as our normal and Super blasters (her sniper blaster and my fusion blaster), I was going to do the same for him. I created a new project and began calculating power and material requirements for his new blaster. I was planning on making each of their extra blasters completely unique, so each one would have to be from scratch.

About three days later, I called Mom and Emily to have them come to the lab to pick up blasters and drop them off as well.

"Jake!" Emily screamed when she arrived, a few minutes ahead of Mom. She ran in and just about full-body tackled me, so I caught and hugged her before she pulled back slightly and kissed me.

"I'll take that to mean you missed me," I whispered when we separated to get our breath back.

She smiled widely. "Just a little bit," she replied sarcastically.

"Of course," I said before kissing her again, although we separated when I heard Mom arrive on her Mecha.

"So, do you have my blaster ready?" Mom asked me.

I nodded and handed her blasters. "I tuned up your old blaster, which was about to fall apart from all the stuff it's been through," I told her, pointing to the new core before I handed her an extra one. "That's for Leo," I added. "I'm sure he'll like it," I added. It was a semi-automatic blaster. It was a bit longer than most blasters, too, because of the large clip of ten tubes directly in front of the trigger. It could only reach MegaMorph, but the ability to launch ten slugs in succession could overpower any slug unless it's in UltraMorph.

Mom nodded and thanked me before leaving, so I turned to Emily. "Like with Mom and Leo, I also made something extra for you," I told her, holding out a strange bow.

"Um, I already have a bow," she said, picking it up and examining the extra mechanical parts.

"It's a blaster," I explained, holding up a slug tube, which Yang jumped into. I grabbed her bow, loaded the tube into a compartment, and pulled back a string made of energy. "The further back you pull it, the more energy the slug has," I told her, pulling it back far enough for MegaMorph and releasing. The moment the string hit the tube, Yang was launched straight into MegaMorph, launching shadowy stars at the walls before returning to protoform.

"Cool," she whispered.

I nodded and handed it to her. "It took some thinking for the energy string, but it was figured out in the end," I said before she kissed me again.

"I really wish you didn't prefer to do this yourself," she said unhappily, stepping back.

I smiled. "Don't worry, it's all for the best," I assured her, so she nodded unhappily and handed me her blaster before she walked out. I smiled after her for a few seconds before returning to the lab to work. Mark's father stopped in to see what I was doing, but it would never be when I'd be working on the secretive things, like the accelerator or the VitaliSteel. I had gotten so used to the process that it cut my time to make her blaster in half, so I spent the rest of the time working on an extra blaster for Luke before calling the two of them to get over to the workshop.

"How's it going?" Luke asked me, looking anxiously at a blaster covered in a sheet.

"Pretty good, thanks," I told him before removing the sheet to reveal a blaster that almost had him drooling.

"Is that...?" he began.

I nodded. "A fully-automatic blaster. It's not as big as Blakk's Gatlers, but can fit twenty tubes in a clip," I told him, pointing to the slug tubes in the barrel clip. "They can only reach MegaMorph, but it should be more than enough."

He grinned as he picked it up. It was a bit heftier than most blasters, but he could easily handle it. "Awesome," he said before handing me his blaster and walking out, Emma entering seconds later, rolling her eyes from something he said.

"Hey, there," she said happily.

I smiled. "Hey, how're you doing?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Not too bad. Better now, though."

"I wonder why," I said sarcastically before pulling her in for a kiss.

She pulled back a minute later, breathless. "Did you really miss me that much?" she asked.

I blushed slightly. "Well, I have a year without you to make up for, and there's no better time than the present," I stated before she picked up her blasters, kissed me, and left. I then got to work creating another blaster for Luke. I was tempted to just have him pick it up that day, but I decided to get the rest of them over with, making extras for Mark and Vinyl before calling all three of them there at once.

"Why did you call three of us?" Vinyl demanded when she and Mark arrived.

"I decided to do several more at once," I explained, holding out blasters. Mark's was a concealable MegaMorph blaster with no metal components, allowing him to get it through any security check, and Vinyl's was a shoulder-mounted blaster turret.

"You're supposed to control it with your powers," I explained as I showed her how to strap it onto her shoulder.

She nodded and her eyes glowed red as the turret rotated a full 360 degrees. "It's nice," she admitted before leaving their blasters behind and leaving. Luke arrived a minute later to collect his blasters, so I happily retreated to the work area again. I went as fast as I could while making sure the blasters were the best they could be.

I finished the blasters five days later, when I copied every last iota of remaining data onto data storage devices. The only thing I left behind was a paper with the instructions for VitaliSteel.

"I left something for you to thank you for your troubles," I told Mark's Dad as I left the lab, tossing him the key. He nodded and walked inside it.

I could hear him cheering about the instructions as I rode away.

"Time to go back home, guys," I told Speedy and Yang as we left Futura Cavern and turned toward home, going at a comfortable pace, although I sped up when I heard blaster fire near the Hideout.

"Hey, Jake!" Luke called out as I entered a large clearing that wasn't there the last time I was at the Hideout. There were Molenoids, Humans, and Cave Trolls everywhere, working on their abilities with a blaster. "Since so many people can't sling slugs, we decided to help them out!"

I nodded in understanding until I saw his Mecha. "What happened to it?" I asked. It was larger, more powerful, and was painted all black except for the Shane Star, which stood out.

He looked down at it and grinned. "This, my friend, is the result when the best Mecha Engineers in all of SlugTerra get together," he said. "All of our Mecha's have been upgraded except for Black Skies. Kaiya wouldn't even let us get close to him."

I nodded and went on to the garage, where Mark and Vinyl were waiting. "You've missed a lot while you were gone," Mark told me as I gave them back their blasters. "The Mecha Engineers found ways to boost the power of our Mechas and make them better overall, Ms. Shane, Emma, and Leo got a bunch of people to join, Pronto got almost the entire Molenoid kingdom to join the cause, and we figured out how to disguise ourselves to get into Dark Cavern, as we like to call it," he explained.

"We collected samples of the forcefield protecting the cavern," Vinyl began. "We managed to make a near-copy of it, but composed of slug energy, and integrated it into the Mecha hearts. It doesn't even affect them, and they, as well as their riders, can get past the forcefield."

Mark nodded. "Yeah. Also, when so many people began showing up, we cleared out part of the forests and began teaching them how to fight. We call it 'Slug Point Academy'. Luke's been teaching people how to fight from the back of a Mecha, Leo's teaching people how to sling slugs like a pro, Emma's teaching a bunch of people how to be scouts, like how to stay hidden while exploring new locations. Ms. Shane is teaching some of them how to be snipers, and Kaiya was practically forced to teach those who don't sling how to fight only with their Mechas. She's taken a liking to it, but I think it has to do with the fact that she has Skies roar at anybody that messes up. Overall, it's going pretty smoothly."

I nodded. "Interesting," I said before Mom walked up to me.

"Good, you're back," she said. "I need you to help Mario teach some kids who want to learn trickshots. Also, Kord and the other Engineers will need to upgrade your Mecha."

I nodded and walked out. I saw Mario's Speedstinger race by, so I followed its trajectory until it reached Mario, when I ran over to the area.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again, readers! So, the gang finally upgraded their blasters, and even started a military academy of sorts!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own SlugTerra, only my story and characters**

**Elina, Quora, and her family belong to JackieWinters**

**Kaiya Skyes belongs to Hills-to-Sky**

**Leo Shane belongs to Create-gunner1209**

**Thanks again for all you reviewers, don't forget to leave one at the bottom!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Slug Point Academy

"Hey, Jake! It's good to have you back, dude," he told me. "So, Karina sent you to help me? Awesome, you take half the class," he added, so half the kids split off and followed me. They all seemed to have been in the class higher than me in SlugTerra University.

"Why are _you_ teaching us?" one of them asked me. "You were an underclassmen."

"I'm a Shane, and I'm doing what I need to," I said simply before I talked them through the basics of a trickshot. Elina had somehow gotten a bunch of slugs to help us out, so there were Speedstingers all around us, waiting to help.

"Elina, you rock," I whispered before turning to everybody. "Alright, now you try," I told them, pointing to a tree hidden behind another. "Hit that tree using a ricochet shot," I said, so they loaded Speedstingers, took aim, and fired. A couple missed, but most of them would bounce off one tree and hit the required one, leaving small marks.

"Nice job," I said. "To make sure your shot hits every time, though, you need to envision the entire shot and how it will play out. Next, the most important part of a trick shot is confidence," I continued. "If you are completely certain that it'll work, your odds of success will skyrocket. The opposite is true as well. If you don't think it'll work, you'll pay less attention to the details and almost certainly miss the shot. Now, again," I said, so they picked up slugs and began firing. All of them bounced off at least one tree, a couple bouncing back and forth among trees surrounding the main tree before finally shooting out and hitting the tree.

"Great job!" I told them before teaching them more and more about different types of trickshots, like how they can be used with various slugs.

"The next one I'll show you is primarily used for combat, and I only call it a trick shot because it tricks your opponent," I told them, loading my Armashelt. I took careful aim at a tree, then fired. The slug went flying past the tree, not even touching it, so a few laughed until the slug used its Bruise Missile attack to turn around and strike the tree from behind. "Like I said, there is a trick shot for every situation," I said, repeating something I had told them earlier. "You're welcome to try me, if you wish," I added, so they began throwing out scenarios. One of which was a hostage situation. I told them to act it out, so one of them drew a blaster, stood directly behind someone else, and put a blaster to the other person's head.

I chuckled, loading a Flopper. "Let's do this," I told him before firing. I had loaded him with enough power that, even though he couldn't velocimorph, he hit the slug tube in the guy's blaster, his sheer momentum enough to knock out the tube, hitting the guy in the face with it. It was a Flatulorhinkus, so it farted in surprise, surrounding us with a horrible stench until I fired my Tormato, Gale, to get rid of it.

"You guys have done well today," I told them at the end of the day. "We'll work on this more tomorrow.

They nodded before leaving for their homes.

"Well, today's been…fun," I muttered as I walked inside the Hideout and sat down at a large table, where Mario had set out several pizzas for us.

"You're not the only one," Luke told me, wiping some grease off his face. "Oh, and your Mecha's been upgraded now."

"Thanks, Luke," I replied before picking up a slice of pizza. "So, since we're teachers and stuff, does that mean we've, like, graduated SU or something?" I asked Mom.

She nodded. "I talked it over with Tobias, the head of the University, and he said that, because of your actions, you have earned your graduation," she explained, triggering a memory. I couldn't quite remember what I was trying to remember, though, most likely because of how old the memory was. I just shook it off and continued eating.

Over the next few days, things continued just like this, except for occasionally goofing around, at least until the Darkbane made their first move.

The day started off normal, and I was just beginning to teach trickshots to a new group when my Holo-Glasses let out a high _beep_, alerting me to a distress signal.

"I'll be right back," I told the group before I took off running for the Hideout, where the others were beginning to gather.

"The alert originated from Gateway Cavern," Mark told us. His job also covered mission briefings and technical support, along with Vinyl. "A few weeks ago, Vinyl and I sent out ninety-eight sensors, one to every cavern except the Darkbane's, a.k.a. Dark Cavern. They were rigged to send out an alert if they pick up traces of the energy from Dark Cavern. The one in Gateway just sensed some and sent us video. Apparently, there is black smoke filling the cavern at an alarming rate. You have roughly two hours to get there, defeat any Darkbane you see, and set up a barrier to prevent ASE from entering again."

"'ASE'?" I asked him.

"It's short for Anti-Slug Energy, the stuff that ghouls and Darkbane send out," Vinyl explained before we geared up and jumped on our Mechas. Stryder had been given a new paint job, black with streaks of bright blue, his power was increased, and was given a few extra gizmos for the future.

"How far away is Gateway?" Luke called out as we left the cavern.

"About thirty minutes at full speed!" Mom replied. "Leo, contact the Shadow Clan and have them meet us there," she added.

"Got it!" Leo replied before we went completely silent so that we wouldn't be detected.

"Five minutes," I said into a communicator when we were about five minutes away.

"Thanks," many voices replied, including one I hadn't expected.

"Kaiya? I didn't know you'd be coming with us," I commented.

"Don't act so surprised, kid," she growled. "I updated Skies myself. He can take down anyone or anything that comes against us."

"Um, okay," I muttered before I loaded both my normal Blaster and Super Blaster, charging them to UltraMorph as we stopped outside the cavern to talk strategy.

"Luke, Jake, Leo, Kord, and Kaiya will lead the charge," Mom told us, pointing to each person as she said his or her name. "Emma, Mario, Pronto and I will follow up, being a bit more discreet in our actions."

"Aw, man," Pronto groaned before Mom continued.

"Mark and Vinyl are back at the Hideout running surveillance with some of their drones," she added, gesturing to several drones that people were tossing into the air. "They will send in backup if we need it."

"If we need backup, we're already screwed," Leo muttered. "We're SlugTerra's best fighters, if we can't do it, who can?"

Mom glared at him for a second before looking at the rest of us. "Alright, let's move!" she told us, so we charged in on our Mechas, Blasters firing at the dozen or so Darkbane that had gathered.

"The Shane Gang is here!" one of them screeched before Luke fired a Frightgeist at it, causing it to run away screaming.

"Why are there so few?" I commented as I used Speedy to knock out five of them, launching a Phosphoro into the air to see if I could push back the smoke.

It didn't.

"There are probably more hiding!" Luke replied as he used Dune, his Sand Angler, to take out a couple Darkbane. "I don't know what we can do about the smoke, though! Phosphoros aren't working!"

"Try fusion shots!" Mark told us. "A Phosphoro's light mixed with a Boon Doc's healing powers might be able to push it back slightly."

"Okay," we replied before firing fusion shots into the air, although they did nothing but irritate the Dark Bane. I got so annoyed by this that I jumped off my Mecha and knocked out any Dark Bane that came near me with a single punch. Fortunately, I had trained enough that this was barely affecting me, at least until I sensed a…pressure nearby, draining my energy.

"Everybody, gather together!" Mom called out, so I ran to my Mecha and rode over to the others.

"What was that?" I asked her. "It felt like something was draining me."

She nodded. "Eli called them 'Eels', a.k.a. the High Plains Monster," she told me. "They drain energy from people and slugs, and can become intangible."

"Oh, crap," I groaned. "So, basically, they can't be hurt?"

"They can be, but it takes a while," she replied before I sensed the same pressure, draining me at a much quicker rate than previously.

"Skies, make it show itself," Kaiya told Skies, so the large dragon Mecha let out a bright light, brighter than the sun. It didn't hurt my eyes, though, instead almost replenishing my energy as the Eel revealed itself.

"The light was pure slug energy," Vinyl explained to us. "It replenishes slugs, but is harmful, even deadly, to ASE creatures in high enough doses. The Eel functions by draining such energy, though, so it drained all of the energy from the light, so that it had to choice but to become visible."

"Hit it with everything you've got!" Mom called out to us. "They're weak against Phosphoros!"

"Thanks!" we called back as we loaded Phosphoros and charged them to SuperMorph, pushing the Eel back further and further until it fled the cavern, when we turned to the Darkbane.

"Is it me, or are there more than before?" I asked the others.

"Their numbers seem to have at least quadrupled," Mom stated. "The Eel seems to have been only a diversion to call in reinforcements."

"Well, we might need reinforcements as well," I said before opening fire. Darkbane are normally resistant to all slugs except for Frightgeists, and a strong enough Infernus, and we happened to have three Infernuses, all capable of SuperMorph, so we opened fire with those three as the others would fire a Frightgeist followed by a Hop Rock or Armashelt. The Frightgeist would bring down their defenses, and the other slug would take them down.

"They keep coming!" I called out as Brisingr returned to me for the tenth time. They were strong slugs, but could only stand so much before getting too tired. We tried supplementing by firing them in fusion shots with Fandangos or Enigmos, which would boost their powers, but they were still getting weaker by the shot.

"Reinforcements can't get in, they Darkbane are holding the entrance!" Vinyl told us.

"Same with the Shadow Clan!" Leo added.

"Jake, what are we going to do?" Emma asked me.

I looked at Mom. "Mom? Any ideas?" I asked her.

She sighed as she loaded Saphira once more, firing her into a group of Darkbane. "We have no choice but to retreat," she said quietly.

"You heard her, everybody retreat!" Kord called out.

"To where?" Mario demanded. "We're completely surrounded by Darkbane, and more are arriving by the second!"

"Luke, Emma, Leo, Kaiya, and I will cover the retreat," I told them, drawing my katanas as the other did the same. Kaiya just nodded and had Skies go to work, slashing, crushing, and destroying anything that got in our way as we slowly made our way out. Luke, Leo, and I jumped off our Mechas so that our weapons could work better as Emma used her bow and arrows.

'You're just doing it to help your friends and family,' I thought to myself as I struck down Bane after Bane. It was the first time I ever used the weapons against another being, and I somehow knew it wouldn't be the last.

"Luke and I will cover Kaiya's flanks, and Leo and Emma will cover the sides and back," I told them as I continued slashing, my Mecha right behind me. "Mark, have the reinforcements and Shadow Clan start attacking the entrance, try to make a small pathway for us," I added.

"Got it!" they all replied before we continued our retreat. It was slow work, even with Black Skies on our side, but we were making progress. The ground soon became covered in Dark Bane, all in some stage of death, but I tried to not pay any attention as I continued to hack my way out.

"I'm out of arrows!" Emma called out as she replaced it with her dagger.

"Here, take mine!" Mom replied, handing her a quiver. "I've held onto them for years."

"Thanks!" Emma told her before she continued firing into the crowd of Darkbane. With her and Leo's range, they kept the Bane well away from the back of our group. The Bane near Luke and me, though, realized our shorter range and focused on us instead of Kaiya and Skies, so Skies' tail would occasionally whip around and launch a few Dark Bane away from us, allowing us a few seconds of rest before more would come.

"I see the entrance!" Kaiya called out to us half an hour later. We could hear blaster fire in the distance, so we hurried our efforts, the others firing slugs into the crowd to push them back while almost running toward the entrance.

"Over here!" a voice called out at the entrance as we got close before the Shadow Clan let out one of their signature screeches, scaring away a few Dark Bane separating us so that we could race out of the cavern. The human reinforcements looked terrified, but the Shadow Clan just looked pissed about the Banes' presence.

"We need to set up a barrier," one of them told Leo and me. "Do you have any Guardians with you?"

We nodded as Leo held out Doc and I held out Speedy and Yang. They all looked exhausted, though, so the Shadow Clan replenished them with Fandangos before setting them on the ground. They closed their eyes and began focusing as countless Fandangos gathered around us. The sheer concentration of slug energy seemed to push back the smoke gathering outside the cavern before a blue barrier rose at the cavern entrance.

"I hope everybody made it out," I whispered.

"They evacuated the moment that the first alarms began to go off," Mark explained, so we all sighed from relief as the barrier was finished, preventing any ASE from entering or exiting.

"We should head back to the Hideout," Mom said sadly as we started on our way back home.

"The first battle of the Second War for SlugTerra has been lost," Vinyl said bluntly before turning off her communicator.

* * *

**A/N: Hello, fellow readers! Thanks again for the reviews! I'm sorry it's taking me so long to update, every time I finish a chapter it takes me a few days to remember to post it. Also, I've got a little trivia for you. What academy did I base the name 'Slug Point Academy' off of? Leave your guesses in the reviews, and those who are correct will be congratulated and mentioned in the next chapter!  
****Anyway, time for the disclaimers  
I do not own SlugTerra, only my characters. All other characters belong to their respective owners, you know who you are.**

**Please, read and review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 8: Lost

When we reached the Hideout, we were completely silent as we parked our Mechas and split up.

"There's going to be a strategy meeting in ten minutes in the living room," Mom told me before I walked up to my room.

"Okay," I said simply before I entered my room and closed the door behind me.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Speedy and Yang told me as I removed my backpack and tossed my blasters on the bed.

"Why?" I demanded. "It's a Shane's job to protect SlugTerra, but we couldn't even protect a single cavern!"

Yang jumped on my shoulder and tried to smack me, although I barely felt it. "Jacob Taylor Shane, pull yourself together!" he yelled. "Did you really expect to waltz right in and beat the Dark Bane without breaking a sweat? If so, you're a bigger fool than the Council—I mean, than we thought."

"What did you say?" I demanded. "What 'Council'?"

He turned away from me. "It's nothing, nothing at all," he muttered.

I glared at him and held him in my hand. "Yang," I growled. "Spill. Now."

He continued to look away from me for over a minute until he sighed. "I just _had_ to go and say something. They're gonna be so pissed that a human found out," he grumbled to himself before he turned to me. "At the beginning of SlugTerra, roughly one year after the Dark Bane were pushed out and down to the Deep Caverns, the oldest, wisest, and most powerful slugs formed together to create a group that would keep an eye on SlugTerra and indirectly influence everything. This became known as the Council, and humans only heard of it from lore. They had direct control of who the Gift, the source of your powers, chose as the recipient of its powers, for they were wise enough to see what a person is like. The moment you were born, a dozen other children were as well. This was also the moment that the Gift had to choose a person to become a Gifted. They debated for over a week for who was to become the newest Gifted, destined to be the leader of them all and keeper of the secret of the Gift. One member of the Council, an ancient Enigma, had the ability to see into the future, and saw that you would grow to be a great person. She had to convince the leaders, the Elemental Slugs, though, but they decided to. Ever since that day, they worked hard to keep you safe yet able to deal with everything you came across. The Flame Elemental Slug even slipped Eli the idea for SlugTerra University, an idea the Enigma saw long ago, when she belonged to one of the first Gifted, who wrote the notes to the five of you in that single hidden chamber."

My jaw dropped from the sheer information. "W-What…?" I whispered.

Speedy shushed me, gesturing for Yang to continue. "The Council continued to pull tiny strings during your entire life," he continued. "When you met—"

"He doesn't need to know that much," Speedy whispered to him, but I didn't pay attention as Yang continued.

"Bottom line, you owe the Council for everything that has happened to you, from your powers to Karina wanting Eli to adopt you, even the name of your Mecha," Yang explained.

"Wait, does that mean they had something to do with my father's death?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "They would never do something that would kill a SlugTerran. As a matter of fact, they were extremely surprised that those thugs even appeared, they should've been robbing a store that would've gotten them arrested," he explained. "Anyways, because we're your main slugs, we've been nominated to join the Council in the future, as it is with the main slug of every Gifted. Because of this, we have to prove to them that they were right to put their faith in you. What do you think they'd do if they saw you freaking out after a single loss?" he demanded.

I sighed and lowered my head. "I see your point," I muttered back at him before Emma ran in.

"Come on, you're gonna miss the strategy meeting," she told me before noticing how serious we were acting. "Did I interrupt something?"

I smiled and walked over to her, kissing her gently on the cheek. "Nope, let's go," I told her, leading the way to the living area, where the others were gathered.

"I declare this strategy meeting started," Mom said when we were all there. The group consisted of Kord, Pronto, Kaiya, Vinyl, Mark, Leo, Luke, Emily, and me.

"First order of business: coming up with a stronger strategy for future battles," Mom stated. "Today, we rushed everything, and that's a contributing factor to our loss."

"'Contributing factor'?" Leo demanded. "We were outnumbered and outclassed, just admit it. We lost because we weren't good enough, and there were too many of them." He continued to go on about how we lost when I grabbed his arm, silencing him.

"Leo, stop," I told him quietly. "We all know this, why do think we aren't arguing with you?"

He opened his mouth again to talk, but just sat down.

"Thank you, Jake," Mom told me before a large holographic screen popped up, showing a general layout of a cavern. "Almost every cavern has a layout similar to this," she said. "What happened today is that we pushed in from a single point," she added, pulling up a simulation of us flooding in from one entrance. "Almost every cavern has more than one entrance, which is how they get reinforcements in. In future battles, though we need to cut off their reinforcements. I propose forming a squad that will search for their reinforcements and cut them off. If they are using a form of portal to teleport them in, the squad will invade from a secondary entrance. We will split the new recruits between the groups. Also, we need to put more work into our equipment. In the first place, the recruits need to select a team to train to MegaMorph abilities, which is when Jake will equip their blasters with accelerators. Kaiya, Luke, and Kord, you will continue to work on upgrading our Mechas and those of the recruits so that they will be stronger and more able to withstand combat, such as increased armor, power, and anything else you can think of. Mark and Vinyl, you will help Jake upgrade the blasters when the time comes, and assist Kaiya, Luke, and Kord with the Mechas. When you aren't doing that, train the recruits with the rest of us. During the next attack, we will split up into designated groups once we make it far enough into the cavern. Kaiya and Kord will lead two separate Mecha Warfare squads, Jake and I will be the heads of the top slingers. Luke, Emma, Pronto, and Leo, you will be behind us providing support. Mark and Vinyl, you will upgrade your drones with these," she told them, tossing Mark and Vinyl each a data drive. "Mario will lead a sniper squadron that will hang in the back of the main invading force, using Speedstingers to take out as many Darkbane as possible in one shot. If any Behemoths appear, Luke and Jake will take care of them, and if any Eels show up, Kaiya and Kord will deal with them with energy lights. Jake, you will have Kaiya, Pronto, and Emma's groups with yours, and you'll be the secondary force. Luke, Kord, and Leo's groups will be with mine as the primary attacking force. In the case that the cavern we have to invade only has one entrance, we will position our forces in a 'V' formation. Everyone with close range weapons will be on the outside covering us, and the rest will fire from inside the formation. Kaiya will lead on Skies, Leo will cover her back with his spear, Luke and Jake will be behind him with their blades, and Kord and I will be behind them. The rest of you will then fill out the formation as the recruits fill in the empty spaces, firing at the Darkbane as we work our way in. Am I missing anything?" she asked us.

We shook our heads, so she nodded and sat down as Mark and Vinyl stood up, bringing up a new hologram of a strange device.

"In our spare time, Vinyl and I have been working on a new project," Mark began. "This device is explosive like a Grenuke, but is much more powerful. I actually got the idea from Jake's use of super-concentrated slug energy. It uses incredibly concentrated slug energy, focuses it into a Vitalis crystal, which could store the energy if our calculations are correct—"

"They're correct," Vinyl assured him, so he continued.

"You see, the main property of concentrated slug energy is the production of energy, hence the use in most power reactors. In high enough amounts, though, it becomes so unstable that a single bump or fluctuation in power could set it off. The Vitalis crystal is great at controlling energy, so the crystal combined with the energy would be an incredibly powerful, yet stable, source of power. If the crystal is even the slightest bit damaged with the energy in it, though, it would cause unlimited destruction to those without the slightest bit of slug energy in them. SlugTerrans have lived here so long that we have very minute amounts of it in our blood, but Darkbane don't. If we could get it into a large group of them, or even their fortress, we could wipe them out of the cavern."

"There are still problems with getting the energy and crystals, though," Vinyl explained. "Slug energy concentrated enough to be that dangerous would be so unstable that it would detonate instantly, so we'd need a source with almost unlimited energy. Second, even though Futuria Cavern has a lot of Vitalis crystal deposits, they aren't refined enough. They're only cut enough to handle enough energy to do their purposes, no more. We'd need a Vitalis Crystal that is cut to perfection so that it can handle the energy, and it would have to be fairly large. The ones they get in Futuria are about as big as your finger, and we'd need one the size of a fist to be useful."

My eyes widened as I remembered a certain hidden cave with several very large crystals of numerous kinds.

"Any one of the crystals from that cave would be more than enough," Yang whispered to me, figuring out what I was thinking, so I stood up.

"I might be able to get my hands on a crystal for you, but I won't make any promises," I told them, cutting Vinyl off mid-speech as she explained the bomb. Basically, once it's in place, a button on a remote triggers a large hammer that would destroy the crystal, releasing all of the energy at once.

"That's great!" Mark told me.

"We'd still need a power source that could handle it, though," Vinyl said, making Kord, Pronto, and Mom look at Kaiya.

"What?" Kaiya snapped when she noticed the staring. "I don't even think I have any discs left," she snapped, but Mom just raised her eyebrow, making Kaiya hold out a simple package from her bag. "I didn't trust anything else to keep it safe," she muttered simply as Mom handed the disc to Mark.

"That's your power source," she told Mark.

"I'll go get the crystals," I told them, grabbing my blasters and walking out.

"You're going to need someone to go with you in case something happens!" Emma called out, chasing after me as I jumped on my Mecha. She kept up with me as I raced out of the cavern, on my way to the cavern Shanai and Red Hook live at.

"Alright, but you can't accompany me past the entrance to the cavern, I need to do the rest alone," I told her. "Only two people know about where I'm going, and I can't tell anybody about it," I explained before I revved the engine and we went faster, almost flying across the ground as we left the cavern.

We arrived at the hidden cavern a few hours later because of how fast we were going, and when we arrived, we stopped at Shanai's house and Emma waited outside as I walked in.

"Welcome, Jacob," Shanai said calmly as Yang hopped over to Ping and they began talking.

I bowed and sat across from where she was. "The first battle for SlugTerra has been lost, but Mark has a plan to save us," I said before I explained the concept of the bomb. "It would cause no harm to SlugTerrans or slugs, but would be deadly for the Darkbane," I finished before she nodded.

"I see, you need to take a Vitalis Crystal from the Gift Chamber," she said calmly. "It is not my decision to make, though," she added. "As current Guardian, you must ask the Gift itself for permission to take its treasures."

I nodded and stood up. "Thank you. If you don't mind, Emma will stay here. She insisted on accompanying me, but could you make sure she doesn't try to follow after I'm gone? "I asked her.

She nodded. "Yes, that I could do," she said, so I walked out.

"So? Where are you going?" Emma asked as I walked toward the woods. She began to follow when I stopped.

"I'm sorry, but you can't come with me, like I told you," I told her. "This is a very important secret that nobody can know," I added before using my Shadow Walker to teleport to the entrance to the Gift cave, where I placed my hand on the wall and it slid to the side, so I placed my blasters on the ground before I walked into the small cave.

"Well, here goes nothing," I muttered to myself before I kneeled before the Gift, its warmth and radiance filling me with energy. "Oh, great Gift, source of my powers, I seek your permission to take one of your treasures so that I may strike down the Darkbane who have once more invaded our lands and are spreading their evil throughout SlugTerra."

I waited for a good five minutes before I saw a Vitalis Crystal the size of my chest dislodge itself from the wall and float over to me. "Thank you for your generous offering," I told the Gift as I took the Crystal and walked out. I never even knew giant crystals filled with power took flattery, but it worked.

"That's huge!" Emma exclaimed when I got back to the Mechas. I wrapped it in several layers of cloth as I strapped it onto Stryker and we got ready to leave.

I nodded as we started to leave, although we had to go at a slower pace because of the weight. "I was surprised I could get such a large crystal," I commented before I revved the engine and we took off. It took us a few more hours than normal to get back to the Hideout, but when we did, I handed the large crystal to Mark.

"Don't ask where I got it," I told him before he could ask. He just nodded, though, and gestured for me to follow him in.

"Since you are so good at concentrating and handling slug energy, we would like you to help us concentrate it," Mark explained. "We could figure it out, but it'd be better to have somebody help us that knows what he's doing."

I nodded. "Sure thing," I replied before they showed me to a completely sanitary room, where there was a huge tub of slug energy. "Whoa, all of that was from the little package Kaiya had?" I asked him.

He nodded. "You don't want to know what it is," he said simply before I began siphoning energy from the tub into a concentrator.

"How strong do you want it?" I asked him.

"As strong as you can get it," he told me, so I set the machine to its highest setting, Vinyl handing me a small piece of Vitalis Crystal that she had managed to cut to perfection.

"We're just going to do a few test runs, so we're using very small pieces," she explained as I placed the crystal in a test tube that the concentration would go into. The crystal wouldn't start absorbing energy until it was submerged, so it would take a while.

"Because of the high concentration you want, it'll take about an hour," I told them before I walked out to the main area of the Hideout, where Mom was waiting for me.

"I need you to do a practice duel with Leo for the recruits, give them an example in their learning," she told me. "No bladed weapons, normal Velocimorph and MegaMorph only, no fusion shots," she added, so I left my fusion staff in the Hideout as I walked out and to a large open area, where Leo was waiting with a large crowd around the clearing.

"Let's do this," Leo told me happily as he loaded his Hop Rock.

I nodded and loaded my Tazerling, Tesla, before somebody blew a whistle, signaling for us to begin. Our first slugs took each other down, so he loaded a Phosphoro and I loaded Yang. Yang's power, even in only MegaMorph, was great enough that he overcame the Phosphoro with a Shadowblak attack, then made Leo back up with a few shadowy stars.

"That was a lucky shot," he growled at me, loading his Sand Angler as I loaded River, my Riviera. As she took her dolphinesque velocimorph form, she created a frozen wave that took all of the Sand Angler's strength to destroy, returning it to its protoform.

"Luck had nothing to do with it," I told him, loading Brisingr as he loaded Burpy. They were both charged to MegaMorph, but Burpy was so powerful overall that I launched an Aquabeek afterward, returning him to protoform before I launched a Lariat, gluing Leo's mouth shut.

"Not funny," he growled as he ripped off the goop, launching a series of five slugs in a row.

"Jump into tubes, now!" I told my slugs, drawing both of my blasters. I'd fire, reload, and repeat until Leo and I were each standing with our original slugs, Speedy (me) and Save (Leo).

"Looks like it's finally time to figure out which of our slugs is the most powerful," I stated as I took careful aim at Leo, charging Speedy to MegaMorph as Leo did the same thing with Save.

"Let's do this the old-fashioned way," I whispered to Speedy before I turned the blaster away from Leo, pointing it at a tree. Leo's eyes widened for a split second when he realized what I was planning before we fired our slugs. Save flew right at me, glowing with green energy, but Speedy raced off, ricocheted off a tree, knocked Save back into protoform, and continued to ricochet around before he hit the side of Leo's blaster, deactivating it.

"And the winner is Jake!" Kord called out, having been the referee of the match without us realizing it.

"Yeah, yeah, that was just a lucky shot," Leo muttered as we gathered our slugs and returned to the Hideout. There was still quite a bit of time left before the Vitalis could completely absorb the energy, so I grabbed Leo's blaster and went to the workshop, where quite a bit of Blaster-Smithing equipment was laid out.

"Your blaster's trigger pull looked a bit sluggish," I said as he began to protest before I carefully removed the trigger guard and the casing, carefully oiling the mechanism before I lowered the tension. "It won't take as much force to pull the trigger now, so be careful," I told him after I examined it. I then went with Leo to a clearing in the forest, where we trained with our weapons.

"You've trained a lot while I was gone," I commented as he spun his spear around expertly.

He nodded before he lunged at me, but I easily blocked it. "Don't be so obvious in your movements," I told him before his eyes began to glow a black and green color specific to the Shadow Clan and his movements become much smoother as he disarmed me within a second.

"What…was that?" I gasped as I tried to keep up with his actions. His eyes returned to normal, but it was still wigging me out.

He shrugged. "It started not long after you vanished, but I kept it secret for a while," he commented.

"Do you know what that power you used was?" I asked him. He shook his head, so my eyes lit up as well. "It felt like the power of one of us, a Gifted," I whispered before his eyes lit up as well, black with streaks of neon green.

He grinned before we reigned in our powers. "I think I know where we can go to get some answers," he told me before we ran to the Mechas.

"Where are the two of you going?" Mom demanded as we raced into the garage.

"We need to go do some investigating for something," I replied before we took off, our Mechas racing through the jungle as we passed through numerous caverns. After over an hour of riding, very gloomy, the edge of the Shadow Clan's territory.

"Looks like it's time for some answers," I commented as a group of Shadow Clan appeared.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again, everyone! I know, I know, I'm REALLY late on this update, and I apologize endlessly for that. College - mixed with life in general - have made it hard for me to gather my thoughts together enough to write. Anyway, I managed to put this out, and i can make no guarantees as to when I plan to update this again, but I will try my best. Anyway, see ya next time, and I'd love it if you checked out my other stories (horrible advertising, I'm sorry).**

**See ya!**

**~dicarten-ice**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Answers

"Hello, Shanes," one of them hissed. "We, too, sensed the change in you, Leo. It is time for you to take your role as a member of the Gifted," he said quietly.

"W-What?" we stuttered in sync. "I thought there were only five of us!" I told him.

"Come, we need to speak at a safer place," they told us, so we followed them deep into Shadow Clan territory, where only a Shane or a Gifted could go.

"Alright, we're here, now explain," I told him.

"During the first war, the five Gifted realized that their power was not enough," they began. "They sought out even more power, and found it in three places. The first, as you can see in young Leo, is the power of the Shadow Clan and light. Our source of energy is the Lightwell, and when they encountered it while scouting, they realized it was the power they needed, but it clashed with the power of the Gift within them. You cannot have two kinds of energy within you without dying, so they found the greatest warrior outside their group, and gave him the power of the Lightwell, or the power of the Shadow Clan. As such, that man became known as the Warrior of the Shadows, the man who wields the power of the Shadow Clan. The second and third both wield the same power, an immense one, but came from different lands."

"How did _I_ get that power, though?" Leo asked him.

"The Warrior of the Shadows receives his power when he is exposed to the full power of the Lightwell under great stress, such as when it cured you of your sickness as a child, and reveals itself when the time is right. Like with the rest of the Gifted, you have a place in the world. The crate of weaponry and letter from your first incarnation has been kept safe until the next Darkbane invasion. If you wish, we will bring it to you.

He just nodded in awe, so several Shadow Clan members teleported in front of us, setting down a large box, on top of which was a letter with his name.

"Are you going to read that now?" I asked him.

He picked up, then shook his head and set it down. "No," he replied. "I'm going to wait until you guys read yours. I have a feeling that's what they would have wanted," he told me.

I chuckled. "Aww, my little cuz actually got a bit of wisdom since I left," I joked.

He just replied with a glare before the Shadow Clan vanished.

"Let's go back home," I told him. "It's getting kinda creepy here."

He nodded, so I carried the large crate onto the back of his Mecha before we left, arriving back fairly quickly, despite the immense weight on the back of his Mecha.

"Here, I'm going to search for my own weapon," Leo told me when we arrived, handing me back his collapsible spear as he sorted through the crate. "Could explain things to them?" he added.

I sighed. "Sure," I replied, walking into the Hideout.

"Where did you go?" my mom demanded the moment I walked through the door, everyone else following with an endless stream of questions.

"Who, whoa, give me a minute!" I exclaimed, getting them to pause. "Let me explain…"

"So, what you're basically saying is that Leo is now a Gifted?" Luke asked when I finished with the full story.

I sighed. "Yeah, basically," I replied. "He also had a letter and a chest of weaponry given to him by the Shadow Clan, so I suggest that us Gifted take a little trip to the cave," I told them, causing their eyes to widen slightly as Mom looked at us in a confused manner, having never been told about it.

"What is this 'cave' you are talking about?" Mom demanded.

"We'll explained later," I told her. "Also, I need you guys to do your best to get Elina and Quora to help us with this. I have a feeling that we can only win this with them."

She nodded, and began talking with Kord and the others as us Gifted walked out.

"Where are you guys headed?" Leo asked us as he tested a weapon with two blades, smiled, and worked on digging up a sheath for it, which he found a minute later, prompting him to jump onto his Mecha as he followed us.

"We're going back to the cave to grab our weapons, as well as maybe a few weapons for the rest of the Shane Gang," we replied.

"Okay, that settles it," he said quietly as Vinyl tried to get comfortable on her brand-new cheetah-Mecha. "I'm coming along, too."

"Sure thing, just try not to fall behind, we're going full-speed to save time," I told him before we transformed into our vehicle modes, Vinyl's being a buggy with plenty of tech as mine changed into sports bike mode. "Let's go!" I called out before we took off, me leading the group and Luke following from behind for safety. Vinyl wasn't very used to using a Mecha, but seemed to catch up well enough as we moved over, under, and around giant mushrooms and trees that blocked our path.

"Do you guys feel that?" I asked the others as I felt a chill go up my spine. There were very few slugs out and about, and all the wildlife in general seemed to be hiding.

"Feels like they're preparing for war," Luke growled cautiously. "Something's going to happen soon, and we need to all band together when we get there," he added.

"Well-said, Luke, but for now, we need to focus on other things," I replied before I saw the bright blue forcefield in front of us. "We're coming up on the forcefield, get ready to head for the pond!" I told them. Vinyl was the only one that had yet to be there, though, so she was just following our lead as we made our way through the trees to the pond.

"I'm surprised Shinai or Red Hook haven't found us yet," I commented as we all pulled out Bubbaleones or stayed near someone who has one. "Anyway, Bubbaleones away," I said calmly, prompting us to launch them at SuperMorph into the water, prompting numerous large bubbles to appear that we managed to climb into.

"Use Phosphoros, not Burpy," I told Leo as we pulled out our Phosphoros to light the way as we went through the tunnels in the water, everyone following as we made our way through.

We made it to the other end of the tunnel fairly quickly, surfacing at the other end and, much to our surprise, discovering a certain elderly duo waiting with a Bubbaleone nearby.

We all bowed out of respect. "Hello, Shinai, Red Hook," we said.

Shinai smiled, looking at Leo. "I see you have found another key to victory," she told us. "Our generation never had a Warrior of the Shadows, it's nice to see you again Leo Shane," she added. "I know why you're here, too. You came for your letters, didn't you?"

We nodded. "It is time for us to read them," Emma told her, so she nodded, gesturing for us to follow her as she opened the first door, placing her hand on the representation of the Gift.

"Wait, how are you able to open that, too?" Luke demanded.

Red Hook grunted. "I've been asking her that ever since we first got in here, but she's never answered," he grumbled. "Anyway, let's go."

We nodded, then followed them as the torches lit up. "Jake, please open this door," she told me when we reached the inner door. "I am no longer to open both doors as all six of you have now come into your powers," she explained, but I shook my head.

"We will all open this one," I told her, so we all placed our hands on the respective stones (excluding Leo, who's powers may not have been around when the doors were made), and the door slid open.

"Whoa, what happened here?" we all gasped as we looked around.

"Now that the Darkbane have re-invaded Slugterra, the control center is needed, so it responded," Shinai said wisely. "Ancient magics are still in place in this room," she added. "This board will show the locations of every Darkbane in Slugterra," she explained as we saw a large congregation of dots in one area.

"That's the cavern they managed to take over," Mark commented, recognizing the location.

"They must have found a way to drill through over the years," I added, seeing how there was no activity near the portal.

"Jake, over here!" Emma called out, pointing to a large blob of dots that was moving.

"From their direction of movement and current location, factoring in speed and terrain…it'll be roughly three hours before they arrive at the Hideout," Mark stated.

"We need to move!" I yelled, scooping up all the letters. "They won't last long without us!"

"Be careful, and whatever you do, do not let them defeat you. If the group you've gathered loses even the slightest amount of courage, they will scatter once they see another Darkbane," Shinai called out.

"Thank you. Could you stay here to keep an eye on their movement and let us know when something happens?" I asked as we were about to leave.

"Of course, now go!" Shinai yelled before we took off running, our Bubbaleones almost flying through the water on their way to the pond.

"Full speed, the entire way!" I called out as I leaped onto Stryder, stuffing the letters in a storage compartment that quickly slid closed as he transformed into sports bike mode, allowing me to lead the pack as we went as fast as we could to get there.

"We have about fifteen minutes before they get here," Mark told us as Emma explained everything to everyone and tried to get their spirits up, and Vinyl activated the defenses with a flash of red light.

"Elina told us that she can't fight the Darkbane, she isn't strong enough by herself, and Quora wants to stay out of this," Mom told me as we got into position around the entrances, which we already had barriers put up around, but had no idea what would happen once they got there. Fortunately, there was only one group, heading for a single entrance, but Shinai was linked into our communication frequency, allowing us to communicate with her as she fed us locations.

"Contact in three…two…one…shield contact," Vinyl told us as we saw the Darkbane on the other side of the shield, violently pounding on it as we watched it flicker occasionally. "Shield integrity: 75 percent…aw, crap, they brought Behemoths and Eels!"

We watched as an intangible form flickered into shape on the other side of the shield. It touched the shields, and they flickered, went down, then immediately reappeared.

"Shield integrity is at 30 percent! We can't take another hit from that thing!" Vinyl shouted, so a few of us fired Fandangos at the shield to provide more energy, although it wasn't enough to delay the next attack, which brought the wall down.

"Luke, Leo, take down the Behemoths!" I called out. "I'll draw the Eels, in, take him down once he reveals himself!" I commanded, releasing my power so that it was like a flashlight in the dark for the Eels, which swarmed toward me, all five of them. "So many…oh crap…" I groaned as a few people worked on firing Fandangos at me to keep me going and to bring the Eels into visibility, when I locked up my powers, fired a Fandango at myself, and leaped into the fray, releasing my power right before each punch to save energy as I knock out Darkbane after Darkbane.

"We can't use the explosive, either, it's not ready!" Mark stated when someone asked him about it.

"Well, this couldn't be at a worse time," Leo commented as he punched down a Behemoth. "Then again, these powers are pretty nifty."

"Yeah, well, make sure to use them sparingly," I told him. "Even we have our limits."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, launching Save to take down multiple Darkbane.

"How many more are there, Shinai?" I asked Shinai on her channel.

"The map is telling me that there is least another squadron coming in, but that may be it," she told me.

I sighed in relief before I smacked a Darkbane away, loading Speedy and firing him, watching as he bounced among friendly and enemy heads alike, knocking out Darkbane and leaving our allies intact as the rest of the remaining Darkbane dropped like flies.

"I am really liking this advantage now," I commented before we found the reinforcements. They were larger than we thought, but somehow managed to defeat them all, setting up more shields that were much more powerful.

"Okay, we need to do something about this," I commented afterwards, during the strategy meeting.

"Which part?" Luke's dad asked. He had arrived a day earlier to help out.

"The part about our poor defense," Mark stated. "We have two entrances. While that is good in case of emergencies and we need to escape, it also allows them to invade from either direction, cutting us off. What we need is a cavern that only has one entrance, but has places to hide or escape to in times of distress. Despite this, though, we also need a place that is close to their portal, but they can't easily access. However, there is no such cavern in the 99 Caverns."

"Have you checked _all_ 99?" Luke's father asked. "While I worked with Blakk, he had some pretty secret places for bases and emergency bunkers. If there's a nook or cranny that was overlooked, the Blakks know about them. Speaking of which, what happened to the young Blakk?"

"He died," I said simply. "Because of that, his knowledge can't be detected, and the Darkbane will already have found out where he holds everything because of how closely tied they are to his family. You had a good point about all 99, though. There is a single cavern that only has one cavern, is uncomfortably close to the portal, yet can't be reached by the Darkbane, has a place to escape through, and is perfect for raising an army."

Mark's eyes widened as I grabbed the marker and did a rough outline of a cavern, only three caverns away from the portal. "I hope Shinai won't mind guests," I stated as I grinned cleverly.

"Absolutely," she told us when we asked. "You're right. The Shanes never were the smartest strategy-wise when building 'Hideouts'. Make sure it is discreet in your moving here, though, and destroy all evidence that they could use against you, no matter the cost. I'll teach Mark and Vinyl the ins and outs for the defense system, and as long as you ask politely, I'm sure you will be able to use the slugs here."

"Wait, defense system?" we all asked.

"Of course!" she stated. "There have been countless generations of tech-Gifted, of course we have a good way to defend ourselves!"

"Don't question her," Mom told me gently, so I sighed and ended the conversation.

"Alright, now for the important question," I told them. "Who's telling everyone?"

_…_

"I can't believe you made me do that, you know I hate public speaking," I growled as I returned inside.

"Oh, cheer up," Luke told me cheerfully. "At least it's over!"

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered before I went up to my room, packing away the things I needed, such as my blaster-tech tools, pictures, a few spare slug tubes, and anything else I needed. The largest things would be taken near the end, including most of my machinery for blaster-tech.

"We're going to have to send one of us with each group to get past the Shadow Clan," I told myself as I thought about when everyone would be ready by. "That, and we'll need many of us there to keep everyone calm and organized, we'll have to set up sleeping arrangements for about a hundred people, and I'm sure they don't want to sleep in tents anymore."

I was about to continue talking to myself when I felt a light pressure surround me.

"Are you overthinking everything again?" Emma asked calmly, her voice and presence enough to calm me as my muscles relaxed.

"No, I'm just thinking about everything that needs to be done," I replied. "So, are you already packed?" I asked her.

"Yep. I don't really have much here, just clothes and very few personal stuff. I didn't spend most of my life here, after all," she explained.

"Hey, don't bash this place," I commented. "Do you know how much stuff I'm leaving behind that I might end up leaving? I've got so many different attachments that they could be worth it, or just slow me down."

"Oh, wow," she said softly. "So, are you able to think through all that now?"

I blinked, surprised, and went through the mental plan. Sure enough, I had a rough plan, so I typed it down quickly and sent it to Mark, who would make it better.

The final plan came out an hour later. The first group, approximately thirty people, would leave immediately with Mom, Kord, and Pronto. Every four hours afterward, ten people would leave with Mom accompanying them along with one of us. For the last two runs, though, they would only be two hours apart, and only contain five people each. Mark, Vinyl, Leo, Mom, and I would be with the last one, and Luke, Emma, Kord, Luke's dad, and Kord would be with the one before that, the best of us protecting them. However, beforehand, we would have to communicate with the Shadow Clan to see if they could help us by securing our passage somehow.

"Alright, the first squad is leaving as we speak. They should arrive in approximately an hour and thirty minutes. Mrs. Shane will then return using a Shadow Walker, and escort the next group. When she arrives, Jake will prepare to leave with the next group so that Mrs. Shane can get rest. They will alternate this way until we reach the last two shipments, when the best of us will accompany the last shipments, destroying everything we won't be bringing with us afterwards. Are there any questions?" Mark asked those of us in the Hideout after he finished explaining the plan.

We all shook our heads, so we went to work assigning people to different groups, sending some of the worst with some of the best of them so that they were equally protected.

Mom got back later that night, so we started readying the next group for leaving.

"How did it go?" I asked Mom when she walked in.

"They were pretty creeped out by the Shadow Clan, but they left us alone as we went. For now, they're just using Arachnet netting for hammocks in the trees. The slugs are pretty nice, allowing them to do that without burning them down," she replied. "By the way, have you read those letters you got?"

I jumped slightly, shocked, but shook my head. "No, we haven't read them yet," I told her. "They're all currently inside Stryder's storage compartment."

"Well, I suggest you read them soon, before we are attacked again," she told me, so I nodded and went to the garage, grabbing the letters before I had all the other Gifted gather together.

"What's this about?" Emma asked before she noticed the letters clenched in my hand. "Oh."

I nodded. "Yeah. Mom thought it would be best if we read them now," I replied.

"Okay, then," she told me, accepting her letter as I went to Mark and Vinyl, who were copying all of our information onto external hard drives.

"Guys, it's time we read our letters," I told them.

They nodded, so I handed them their letters before I took off in search of Luke. As it turned out, he was working with Kaiya on some personal modifications for his Mecha, so it was a difficult matter for me to get him out of the garage and to the main room at the Hideout. Emily had taken the initiative and dragged Leo over as well.

"Guys, it's about time that we read these, before we lose our chance to," I told them. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"Of course."

"Yep."

"Uh-huh."

"Let's do this, then," I whispered, ripping open the envelope and pulling out the letter enclosed…

* * *

**A/N: Hello, everyone! To commemorate the news of Season Three of Slugterra (yay!), I have worked to finish this chapter. Unfortunately, I have no clue when I will be updating again. I return to college tomorrow, and will be very busy most of the time. That, and I've no clue as to what the letters will contain. I have a few ideas, but they aren't enough. Once again, I am turning to you, the readers. I will welcome any ideas, by review or PM, and for those whose ideas I will use, you will be recognized for your work.**

**As I said, I have no clue when this will be updated again. I will be updating one of my other stories, 'The Tale of Takumi Shimizu', because I have a lot of chapters built up in reserve. For those of you Bleach fans, I suggest you give it a spin.**

**Till next time, I bid you adieu**

**~dicarten_ice**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Letters

_Emma's Letter…_

_Dear Emma,_

_Hello. I am the first of the ones you call 'the Gifted'. My Enigmo companion glanced into the future once a year ago upon meditation, and has spent the time since then having me write them all down. Among them was a passage in which you confront your friend, Jacob, about the secret he cannot tell. After I write these letters, I will not be able to tell it either, but this war revolves around that secret, as it is the reason behind every Dark Bane invasion since our era._

_So, I will tell you._

_It is known by many names, but your generations refer to it as 'the Gift', the source of all our powers. It is a large crystal in the cavern that you will soon go to for protection. Only Shanai and Jacob know of its location now, but soon all of you will as well, because as you read this letter, the magic preventing Jacob from speaking of his secret is being unraveled. The Gift is old, perhaps older than all of Slugterra and the Deep Caverns. When Slugterra was created, a group of six slugs wandered upon the Gift. The Gift recognized them and realized their powerlessness, bestowing upon them the powers of Fire, Water, Air, Energy, Darkness, and Metal. Behold, for these were the first slugs, the Elemental Slugs as they are referred to. They recognized their powers and spread out, bestowing them on more and more slugs. The slug bestowed with Darkness, though, turned evil as he spread his power, creating the first ghoul slugs. The Elementals and their disciples realized this danger and fought against him. The Darkness Elemental recruited humans and other beasts to his cause. Slug hounds became the first Behemoths, and humans became the first Dark Bane. The Elementals reached out, teaching humans the art of slinging which, combined with their crude human weapons, helped them fight back. The Energy Elemental bestowed his own powers upon a group of humans. Unable to bear the power, their bodies twisted and changed as their minds grew and gained the first language, spoken by humans before they learned new languages. Because their bodies became so twisted, they hid in the shadows to prevent scaring their fellow comrades. Henceforth, the Shadow Clan was created. The Elementals began to grow weak, though, from the sheer power of the Dark Bane. Turning to two women, the ones that looked over them during their ventures, they invested all of their powers into the two of them, forming the Enchantresses. They helped during the great wars, but were still not enough. Unknown to them, five foolish humans had wandered upon the Gift, hoping it would help them win the war. The Gift listened to their pleas, bestowing upon them the powers of strength, speed, intelligence, and technology. Their power pushed them back even further, but was still not enough. The Darkness Elemental continued to grow in strength as he strived for the crystal, which would grant him even more power. He ghouled more and more slugs, which began to win against our warriors. He even managed to get his hands on the Gift. Its power flowed into him, but his body was too small to contain the power he was given, so he transformed into the incarnation of Darkness, the Dark Bane you know as Brimstone. The Elementals were startled by this transformation, but would not touch the Gift in case the power twisted their minds. Instead, they searched all over Slugterra with us, the Gifted, for a new power source. A single normal human accompanied us, as he was great and powerful. His name was Shane, as we did not have multiple names. He was the first of the Shanes, and every generation of Gifted has contained at least one Shane. They reached the Lightwell, and recognizing its great power, tried to use it for themselves, but could not, as it clashed with the Gift's energy. Unknown to them, though, a ghoul you call a 'Goon Doc' went with them under disguise, and attacked Shane. He was almost killed, but the Energy Elemental, whom you call 'Doc', told us to place him in the Lightwell. We did as he told us, and he was healed, gaining powers none of us could ever imagine. He became part Shadow Clan, and became our sixth Gifted. This was the push we needed, pushing them all the way back to the Portal and sealing it with all of our power. It has been thirty years since then, and we have hidden the Gift in the cavern with the strongest slugs, the ones you call rare, to guard it. It is also the place we worked from, the purity of the pond preventing any darkness from infiltrating. After the war was over, the Enchantresses powers became too much, clashing with each other unintentionally. We sent them to the opposite ends of the Caverns, splitting them midway between to form the 99 Caverns and the Eastern Caverns._

_Now, the threat has returned, seeking the same weapon as he did before. Protect the Gift at all costs._

_I also have one more thing to tell you. Jacob will try to destroy Brimstone by himself to protect all of you. Despite how much more powerful he is now, almost as strong as Brimstone himself, he cannot win. If he goes by himself, he will die, and all hope will be lost. Only by combining the power of the Gifted and Enchantresses will you be able to defeat him. You all see Jacob as your leader, but no matter what, do not let him go. Confiscate all Shadow Walkers and his Shadow Bringer Slug when he brings up the idea. Do not let him leave. Have him sleep in one of the caves in the wall, and have Yang guard the entrance. He will know what to do._

_Fight well, and do not let Slugterra die._

"Amazing…" Emma gasped as she read it. "The Gift…"

* * *

_Mark's Letter…_

_Dear Mark,_

_Gift._

_History._

_Those words have granted you the entire history of Slugterra, and the Gift. I ingrained them into the Intelligence Gifted's powers upon my friend's visions, so you understand. Now, you must hasten with your weapons. When you launch your final attack on Brimstone, you must work with Vinyl to place the bomb. Despite its sheer power, Brimstone will barely feel a thing. You have to strategize your companions and tell them what to do. Despite what you think, you are the most important part. You are the one who guides them in battle, and provides support to them when needed. Without you, their plans would be much more reckless and misguided, and would fall apart. Do not worry if you doubt yourself. Depend on others, ask your friends for help when you need it._

_Jacob's plan._

_Fight well._

Mark's eyes widened as he remembered the history and the Gift, and finally Jacob's plan to take on Brimstone and what to do when he brings it up. "Jake…you idiot," he muttered before he went back to work.

_Luke's Letter…_

_Dear Luke,_

_Hello. I am the first of the ones you call 'the Gifted'. My Enigmo companion glanced into the future… _(explaining the whole history and Brimstone and the Gift and Jake's plan)_ …_

_Now that the threat has returned, we need you to fight the war we did. I also offer another explanation as to why there are two of you with the power of strength. The truth is, we don't know. The best guess we can come up with is that having two Gifted with the power of strength would help to counteract the great strength of the Dark Bane. While Speed, Intelligence, and Technology are amazing gifts, what humanity needed was a warrior. While speed could help one in a fight, brute strength can also help more, as it can counteract the Dark Bane._

_Never doubt your strength, no matter what you think of others. I know that, because Jacob has gained more power than you through other means, you are still strong. You all have a purpose in this world, and you will discover it, worry not._

_Now, there is another thing I must tell you. After the fighting is done, your leader must leave you for his own adventures. In his absence, take his place as leader of the Gifted. This is another possibility of two with the power of Strength. When one leaves, the other must take his or her place. He will return after a year and retake his place as leader, but you must serve by his side, as his best friend and companion in battle._

_Fight well._

"Amazing…" Luke gasped as he read the letter, tucking it into his jacket and going off to work on his Mecha.

* * *

_Vinyl's Letter…_

_Dear Vinyl,_

(Telling her the past and all that stuff. Sorry, but it helps you guys not have to deal with it over and over) _…_

_Vinyl, I am truly sorry for all that you went through. The worst is yet to come, though. You believe yourself to be the weakest of the Gifted because you don't battle often, but the truth is, you are powerful. Your predecessors before you made great things, from the first blaster to the first accelerator. You, though, will be the greatest. Open your files and go to the one you have hidden away._

_Build it._

Use_ it._

_With it, you will make history, and change all of Slugterra, and even help win the war. Start with Angel, then Yang, Speedy, and everyone else. Those three slugs will need them the most for their battles._

_Fight well._

"Well, that sucks," Vinyl muttered, opening up the file and starting work.

* * *

_Leo's Letter…_

_Hello, Leo._

(Telling the past and all that) _…_

_We know your past has been hard, but you have been given a gift. With it, you will help the Gifted save Slugterra, and the entire world with it. Do not be afraid of your powers. Do not hide them. Doing so will only hinder you and your companions. Do not let the Shane name down. Make your parents proud._

_Fight well._

"Amazing…" Leo gasped.

* * *

_Jake's Letter…_

_Jacob._

_Go to the slug cavern._

_Find Apollo._

_Use him to save the world._

_Go to the Surface._

_Find your grandmother._

_Tell her everything. Learn about the Surface, train there, and return to your friends and family._

_Fight well._

"What in the world…" I gasped. "How am I supposed to get to the surface? Eli sealed it with Burpy."

"Unseal it, then," Speedy told me. "Besides, the first thing we need to do is worry about Apollo. I've heard about him when we were in the hidden slug cavern. Apparently he is one of the only members of an extremely rare slug species, the Ilios slug."

"Ilios? Never heard of it."

"Exactly. There are only two in existence," he added. "Apollo is the one who protects the cavern from intruders, and very powerful. Do you remember how to get there?"

I nodded, standing up. Everyone but Mark was still reading, so I walked over to him and we discussed our letters. It turned out that his told him the entire history of the Gifted and the origins of the Shanes.

"So, the Shanes have come full circle, from the first battle for Slugterra to now," I commented. "Before I can act on my own, we have to continue moving to Shanai's cavern. I'm taking the next group in ten minutes."

He nodded, so I left to take the next group. They all looked terrified, but when I reached them, my presence seemed to help them, though, as they calmed down and we left, working our way to the cavern. It was easy going, so when we arrived, I got them settled in and used the Shadow Walker to go back to the Hideout, where Mom led another group.

We continued like this for the entire day, finally finishing late that night. I camped out in one of the numerous huts made by Crystalyd and Diggrix slugs. They weren't much, just a roof over someone's head. I put up a hammock and got some sleep, out in seconds.

"What's the plan for today?" Mom asked us the next morning. "We need to continue training them."

We nodded. "Mark and I are going to move into our war room to keep an eye on everything," Vinyl told us. "I have something I need to work on."

I nodded, so they took off for the war room. "The rest of us need to train the recruits. I need to leave for a few days, though."

"Where to and why?" Mom demanded.

"I need to return to the cavern I stayed at while recovering from my amnesia to find a slug. I was told to in my letter," I explained. "I'm sorry, but I have to."

"It's okay, he already told me about it," Emma told Mom. I had explained it to her the previous night.

Mom didn't seem happy about it, but nodded. We all split up as I ran to Stryder, traveling through numerous caverns until I reached Bullseye Cavern.

"The entrance should be around here," I whispered to myself as I reached the spot I landed when the University was destroyed.

Yang nodded, pointed toward the edge of the cavern. "The slugs carried you to there, that giant boulder leaning against the wall. There is a Thugglet hiding the hole you were taken through."

"Thanks, bud," I thanked him, walking over to him. He and Speedy went to the Thugglet, having her undo the illusion as I slid the boulder out of the way, climbed through the hole, and pulled it back in place. "This is amazing," I gasped, looking down. It was just a long slide, spiraling down, down, down. "River, I need you to stay with Stryder. When I contact you, I need you to activate its auto-pilot to take it to the exit."

She nodded, hopping out of her slug tube and going to my Mecha before I jumped.

"Ahhhhh!" I screamed as I accelerated down the slide. Speedy seemed to enjoy it as Yang slept on my chest.

I wasn't even on the slide for a minute when it spat me out into the slug cavern. I instantly reacted, launching my Arachnet to create a rope for me to slide down to the ground.

"This way," Yang told me, having woke up upon my landing. He led me through the dense plants until I reached a river. He had me follow it upstream, and then right at a family of Aquabeeks, left at a group of Vinedrills, and right upon reaching a Forgesmelter. After that, I only encountered fire-element slugs as the air warmed up and plant life became sparser.

"This is where Apollo lives while there isn't a threat to the cavern. He should be here now," Yang explained when we reached a pit full of fire. He hopped towards it and called out Apollo's name until the fire died down, allowing him to hop into the hole, in which I heard him talk for a few minutes before a different voice replied, one much older and wiser.

"Alright, I will come," the voice said before Yang emerged with another slug next to him. "Hello. My name is Apollo."

* * *

**A/N: Hello, everyone! This is your friendly neighborhood author, dicarten-ice! I'm sorry it's taking me so long for updates, but now that I am done with college for the summer and still busy with the job search, I'm able to submit a new chapter! Yay! As usual, reviews are appreciated but not required, I do not own SlugTerra or any of its characters, only my characters. The Enchantresses belong to JackieWinters, Leo belongs to Create-gunner1209, Kaiya belongs to Hills-to-Sky, and Karina belongs to Aist MoonSun.**

**Until next time, ciao!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Apollo

I bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, Apollo," I told him. "My name is…"

"I know your name, and why you are here. The leader of the Council has already told me. I will go with you. The other Ilios slug will take over for me in my absence." He was no taller than Yang, but his body was a soft orange, had a strange halo-like marking on the top of his head, a belly that was lighter than his body with a strange marking on it, what Eli had taught me was the sun, and there was a flame in the middle of his halo marking. "Now, let us go."

I nodded and held out a hand, which he hopped on. He was warm, not unusual for a fire-element slug, and hopped into one of my slug tubes to be comfortable for the ride back. Yang led me through the cavern to the exit, where I contacted River and had her activate Stryder. She did, and I could hear her chirps of alarm as she held on. The exit was at the other side of the cavern, so it took them a few minutes before they arrived. I thanked River and let her rest in a slug tube as I jumped onto Stryder's back and transformed into sport bike mode, hitting the throttle and taking off, going at full speed to get back to the hidden cavern by the end of the day.

"Was your adventure successful?" Mom demanded when I arrived.

"Calm down, Karina Shane," Apollo told her. "I am the reason he had to leave. My name is Apollo, and I am one of two Ilios slugs in existence."

Her eyes widened. "Who is it that gave you that name? It is a Surface name."

He smiled, nodding. "It is. As to the one who gave me my name, is was your father, Will."

Mom's eyes widened. "Dad knew you? He never told us, though."

Apollo laughed. "Of course not. I met him on accident after exploring Bullseye Cavern. I was about to return to my home when he found me. He gave me my name."

"Cool," I whispered as Mom thought about it.

"Interesting. Well, whatever you are here for, you need to stay with Jake. Other slingers would see you and try to take your power."

He nodded. "I understand," he replied, hopping back into his slug tube.

"Speaking of your power, I need to train so that I can get used to fighting with you," I told him, holding out my blaster. He nodded, so I went over to a training area Luke had put together, loading Apollo into my blaster. I focused on one of the targets and pulled the trigger, firing Apollo. When he reached velocimorph, he looked like an Infernus, but had a glowing halo of fire around his head and his fire was the color of liquid gold. He faced one of the targets and let loose a rain of fiery arrows, destroying a target. He returned to me and I fired him again. This time, he let loose a ring of flames.

"That attack is the reason you were sent for me," he explained upon returning to me. "It can heal ghouls and injure enemies. When in a tri-fusion shot in UltraMorph with Speedy and Yang, the power would be enough to destroy Brimstone in the right conditions, or at least return him to his slug form, when the Elementals and Enchantresses can seal him away. Because of the energy required, though, you need three Gifted to fire at the same time, and the rest of you to keep him still long enough for the shot.

"Why are you so specific it be them?" I asked him.

"There is a plan, do not worry. As long as everyone does as the letters told them, they will be able to help me," he told me.

I frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, yeah," I grumbled before I got a quick dinner from the tent set up for food and got some sleep. To be honest, I didn't like that I had to involve the others. I wanted to keep them out of danger and take on Brimstone myself. I was the strongest of them all, so I could do it.

The next day, I brought up the plan with them, only to be pinned to the ground as my Shadow Walker and Misty were taken to me and I was sent to the caves.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.

"You aren't strong enough to face him alone, despite your strength," Emma told me as Yang stood guard. "We were told of this in our letters. If you face him, you will lose and all of Slugterra will be lost, followed by the Surface. Until you calm down and realize this, you're staying here."

I frowned. I could probably overpower one of them, but not all four of them, and I would never forgive myself if I hurt one of them. The best choice was to just sit there and wait for them to see sense.

I was in that cave for close to a week like that. We ended up losing two more caverns to the Dark Bane's advance.

"Why won't you see reason?" I yelled at them when they told me. "Sending me is the only way to end this without any more lives being lost!"

"What about _your_ life, though?" Emma demanded, everyone else walking away. "Even if you manage to defeat him, what will happen to you? Even with all of your strength, the power required to deal the final blow to Brimstone would be too much, and you'd die!" she screamed, falling to her knees in front of me as I saw tears fall down her face. "Did you even stop to think about that? About what would happen to us if you died? Your mom has lost everyone she ever loved, and I don't want to start with you! Please, I don't care what's going through your mind, just don't do it, please don't do it!" she added before she broke down.

My eyes widened as I staggered back, her words an arrow into my mind. I fell down in front of her and hugged her tightly so that she could lean on my shoulder.

"I won't…I'm so sorry…I'm so sorry…" I whispered over and over to her until we had both calmed down and were leaning against the wall of the cave, silent as we enjoyed each other's presence.

"Is he okay?" Mom asked Emma as we returned to the main camp. She nodded, so Mom let me return to my tent and put away my things as Mark came in and talked to me about schedules for the continuation of Slug Point like nothing happened at all.

Two days later, there was an attack on Bullseye Cavern.

"We need to bring everything we have," Mom told us as we packed our things. "We've already sent a forward squad to slow their advance, but they won't have a lot of time. Mark, how are things with the secret weapon progressing?"

"Slow without Vinyl's help, but I've managed to create a new toy for you," he replied, holding out a briefcase with three slug tubes. In each was a small cylinder. "These load into your blasters and are launched into them, mainly for long-range. If you succeed in pushing them out, use these to push them farther, or if you need to escape, use them to provide space. They won't do much damage, and will mainly shock them more than anything. I wish I could have made them more powerful, but…"

"Don't worry about it, this is enough," Mom told him, although he handed Leo a clip of ten of them.

"Because you have one of the best reloads of the group, I made you a clip full of them. Be careful when using them. Luke already has a clip as well, but only for emergencies. I have no idea of the stress it'll put on the blasters," he explained.

"Hey, have more faith in the blasters I made. They'll work just fine without the accelerators," I told him, so they pocketed the clips and we set off.

"Jake! Wait!" Vinyl called out, running over with a pair of small items. "I just finished this, take it!" she told, me, putting them in my hand before she was left behind to get on her own Mecha. She quickly caught up to explain. "The letter I got told me to make these. Put them on Speedy and Yang!"

I gave her a strange look, but did as she asked, putting the small disks of metal on them. Upon contact with their skin, they lit up brightly. I almost lost control of Stryder as I wobbled and recovered, watching as the disks transformed into very thin suits around them. I could barely see them except for the fact that their skin darkened slightly. When I looked over, I noticed that her Thugglet, Angel, had a similar suit on.

"They absorb excess energy from a launch and uses it to strengthen their attacks," she replied. "I tried it with Angel, and her illusions are far more powerful than before. I'll make one for Apollo after this to help, but it'll take a while."

"Don't worry about it, this is enough!" I told her, Speedy and Yang admiring the suits.

"Amazing, I don't even feel it," Yang told me.

"I wonder what'll change the next time we're launched," Speedy commented.

"We'll probably find out soon," I replied before a small tube landed in my lap. I picked it up and saw that it was one of the special tubes Mark created.

"You should have one, as the leader of the new Shane Gang," Mom told me. "Leo's split off to go ahead with his friends and act as a vanguard for our advance. Do you know the strategy?"

I nodded, clipping the tube to my belt. "Enter formation! We'll be reaching Bullseye in an hour or so, but we need to watch out for ambushes!" I told them. "Vinyl, do you think you can create an illusion to intimidate the Dark Bane upon arrival?"

She nodded. "I'll have Angel take care of it when we get close," she replied as we formed as the five of us formed a V, every student of Slug Point following behind in groups of five, also in Vs.

About forty-five minutes later, Leo's group returned to the main force, albeit without their leader.

"The forward group is barely hanging on, so Leo went to help and sent us back," Garo explained.

"Dammit…" I growled. I wanted to go after the idiot, but if I did, people would break formation to follow. In the week that I was in the cave, they had done a lot of training to keep that formation, but it would be useless if we split apart. "Vinyl, launch Angel!" I told her, so she launched Angel into the air. A moment later, she entered UltraMorph and we were surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands, of illusions.

"Ignore them and keep formation!" Vinyl told everyone. "If you touch one, do not panic, they are intangible," she explained as we approached the cavern. The entrance we were going in was untouched, so we left behind a group to keep it that way as we continued through the cavern.

"LEO!" I roared when I heard blaster fire. Sure enough, he was there, fighting Dark Bane alongside a couple dozen duelists. They were vastly outnumbered, though, at least until we arrived. "Fire!" I roared, launching Brisingr as Mom launched Saphira, the signal to attack. The Dark Bane seemed to be intimidated by the illusion, but kept their positions as we opened fire.

"Good job with the suits," I told Vinyl. Angel was still above us, circling as she maintained the illusion. Even an UltraMorph slug would have issues with that, but the suit was helping her.

"Yeah, but she can only maintain it like that for another minute, tops!" she replied. "I loaded extra energy into the shot just to allow her to maintain it this long," she explained as I loaded Speedy, taking aim at a Behemoth. I charged him and launched.

The Behemoth fell.

"Vinyl, when we get back, make more!" Mom told her as we continued firing. The power of the suits was amazing, but Speedy and Yang were starting to tire out as Angel returned to Vinyl, drained of energy. I managed to launch a fusion shot of Tesla and Blaster to take out a hundred or so, but we were still vastly outnumbered as they continued to pour in. I followed up with a fusion of Toxin and Trench, creating a giant moat full of poison that even Dark Bane would avoid. I repeated on the other side, funneling them so that we could concentrated our force. They were still using Ghouls, but it was easier now that they could only use their brute strength at one point. To deal with the Ghouls, a few of us launched Boon Doc/Phosphoro fusions, the light healing numerous Ghouls as Emma followed up with her Tui and La fusion.

"We're holding them back, but how are we going to push them out?" Emma asked. "The slugs are starting to tire out!"

I frowned. "I don't care, use brute force if you have to!" I yelled as Leo launched a fusion of Save and Burpy, taking out a large amount. No matter how many we took down, though, they kept coming. "Leo, explosive gas!" I called out as they surged forward, jumping over the trench. He nodded, launching his Flatulorhinkus and Toxis in a fusion, the resulting gas detonating when I launched Brisingr.

"Jacob, use me!" Apollo told me for the hundredth time.

"I can't, or they'll know about your presence!" I replied.

"It doesn't matter if we can't take this cavern back!" he replied, so I grabbed him and charged him, launching him into the air. He instantly transformed, going straight into SuperMorph. He rose up into the sky. He became encompassed in fire before a giant fireball appeared in front of him. He paused a moment to take aim before he launched it into the front lines, taking out dozens of Dark Bane. He wasn't done, though, flying low over them as he let loose with barrages of fiery arrows. He finished up with an extremely bright light. It didn't hurt, though, instead filling me with energy as the Dark Bane were pushed back further, covering their eyes as they screamed.

"Amazing," I gasped as he returned to me, landing on my shoulder.

"My slugs are back to normal!" Emma called out.

"Me, too!"

Reports started pouring in that his light had healed all of the slugs, so we continued our attack, raining fire, water, ice, electricity…you get the gist of it…onto their heads as our morals were lifted. I followed up with Glacier, my Glacio, and his Rico-Freeze followed by Blizzard. We weren't able to use fire-element slugs during it, but it was worth it as they couldn't use them either, their flames extinguished by the onslaught of ice.

"Good job, Glacier!" I told him.

He smiled brightly as I loaded Blaster and barraged them with bombs.

"All squads, report in!" I called out as everyone surged forward, pushing them back. I took the moment to take a short breather to catch my bearings.

"All of our slugs are healed, so we're still going!" That was the general report coming in, so I grinned.

"Charge! Use this momentum to push them further! Those with Grenukes and those with Hoverbugs, launch them! We will use the Hoverbugs to aim the Grenukes precisely while scouting at the same time!" I told them. Soon after, the sky was full of the slugs.

"The front lines are entering the blizzard! It's too much!" those up front stated, so I turned to Glacier.

"How do I stop it?" I asked him.

"Forgesmelter and Infernus combo," he replied, so I loaded Brisingr and Scorch and launched them, a large sphere of fire and lava evaporating the ice to get rid of the blizzard. Without the ice, the Dark Bane seemed to push more, but we did as well.

"We need more firepower up here!" those in the front lines said.

"Mom, are you in position?" I asked her.

"Roger that. The Sharpshooting division has taken up positions in the wreckage of SU," she replied.

"Good. Start with Frightgeists, and while they're running, cook them," I replied. I watched as a group of ten snipers opened fire across the cavern, resulting in screams of horror that caused them to run. They followed up with Flaringos led by a certain Infernus, pushing them back further. Those the furthest back, though, remained unaffected, so I looked to where Mario was positioned. I couldn't see him, but knew he was there. "Mario, Frightningrod trick-shot," I told him, so he loaded the fusion mod I made for him and fired the Frightgeist/Speedstinger fusion. The fusion works so that whatever the fusion slug hits is affected by Frightningrod. It has a better range than a Frightgeist, and terror spread through the ranks further back, allowing for those scared to keep running.

"Are you ready for another round?" I asked Apollo as I loaded him in my fusion blaster with Brisingr.

He nodded, so I launched them. Brisingr increased the effectiveness of his flame attacks significantly, so I watched as they attacked.

"Wait, Jake," Mom told me. "Why is it that no Eels have appeared?"

"Yeah, and there's only been one Behemoth, too," Luke added.

I frowned as Apollo and Brisingr returned after their run. "Good point," I replied before I switched to the frequency used by everyone. "Return to your formations! Continue the assault, but do not break formation! I've a bad feeling about this," I announced before switching to the private frequency. "Leo, Luke, get those fancy clips ready," I told them. I had barely gotten those words out of my mouth when the ground shook. "Crap," I growled as at least a dozen Behemoths charged in, running over even their own Dark Bane. "Luke! Leo!" I roared, jumping off of Stryder's back as my eyes lit up. They did the same as we focused our powers to form a wall of pure energy. They plowed in it and almost broke through it, but it was like our resolve, unbreakable.

"Yang, go with Apollo and contact the Council," I muttered under my breath to them. "Tell them to bring everything they've got. We need everything we can get. Heck, brink the Elementals if you have to," I added before I loaded them in my fusion blaster and launched them toward the entrance. If we lost Bullseye, the chances that they'd find the hidden slug cavern were too high. There was a good chance that it was their target from the stop.

"Where did you send them?" Emma asked me as she, Mark, and Vinyl poured their power into us so that we could maintain the barrier.

"To get backup," I replied. They charged again and again, and almost broke through once before the Eels arrived.

"Phosphoros!" Mom called out, so they were launched and the Eels began falling from the sky.

"Hurry…Yang…" I gasped as my sight began to dim.

"Support squad, focus Fandangos on the Shane Gang!" Mom called out before I had a chance to black out. My sight returned to normal after the fifth Fandango, so we were able to maintain the shield for another ten minutes before I heard a faint call.

"Jake!" Yang called out as he and Apollo hopped toward our forces, leading hundreds, maybe thousands, of slugs, and behind them were…

The Elemental Slugs.

* * *

**A/N: Hello, readers! Yes, I have finally come up with another chapter, I hope you'll forgive me for being so late! Well, it seems that Jake's ego has reached a new peak, but Emma's able to keep him under control, as always, and a new weapon has been introduced. I wonder what'll happen now that the Elemental Slugs have joined? I don't even know yet, to be honest, but it'll be awesome!**

**I do not own Slugterra or its characters, only my own. Create-gunner1209 owns Leo, his friends, and his slugs. Aist MoonSun owns Karina Shane. I suggest you check them out, they're amazing writers!**

**Until next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Elemental Slugs

"The Elemental Slugs? I thought you were staying out of this," Mom commented.

"After what our brother has done, no," the Water Elemental told her as he hopped into her hands. "Use us."

She nodded, launching them one after another, followed up by Doc. They soared right through the barrier, plowing through the Behemoths. We released the barrier and stepped back as they went to each of us. Leo got Doc, Mark got the Earth Elemental, Vinyl got the Water Elemental, Emma got the Air Elemental, and Luke got the Fire Elemental.

"I will fight by you in lieu of an Elemental," Apollo told me. "Do not worry, though, I am still powerful."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," I replied as we took aim and fired, the five slugs entering UltraMorph. I didn't even know they could, but they did, healing ghouls and taking out Dark Bane.

"We should be lucky that Brimstone isn't here," The Fire Elemental commented as they returned to us. "His power is far greater than any of ours from coming into contact with the Gift."

Doc nodded to confirm his comment. "Not now, we need to focus on the battle in front of us," he replied.

"Good point. Let's go!" I called out. The six of us launched our slugs again simultaneously. We didn't even know the effect it would have as their combined power cured all of the ghouls in the cavern.

"This is our power when combined," Doc stated. "Leo, Jacob, launch Apollo and I at the same time."

We nodded, standing back-to-back as we launched them. They entered a fusion shot, the result far greater than I expected. The fusion slug they created had a trail of green light as they launched a large ring of light, taking out any Dark Bane within a hundred yards of them.

"It looks like the tides have been turned," Mom commented. "There aren't any more Dark Bane entering, this is it. Brimstone must have realized that this was a lost cause as he stopped supplying Dark Bane. From my experiences. He has a hundred times this many Dark Bane."

"Well, let's stop thinking about that and push these ones out," I told her as we focused on getting them out. It turned out that we didn't need to use the special tubes, as the Dark Bane had realized their loss and were fleeing.

"We need to seal this entrance so that they can't get in," I stated before people could burst into cheers. I sent half of them to sweep the cavern for any Dark Bane. Once done with that, they would guard the other entrance as the rest set up camp in the cavern.

"How are we going to do this?" Emma asked me as I looked at the giant entrance.

I smiled, holding up Glacier, the Earth Elemental, a Geoshard, and Scorch. "We'll use these four slugs," I told them. I started by launching the Earth Elemental, using his powers to raise a large wall of rock around the other side, completely sealing it off while leaving a large hollow in it.

"How'll that stop them? They'll just use a couple Behemoths to plow through it," Leo began when I launched Glacier, using his Ice Seal to coat the inside with a thick layer of ice, similar to a Forgesmelter's Sealsmith, and can only be undone by a Forgesmelter's Blastrap. To keep the ice from melting, I used a fusion shot of Freezer and Mark's Geoshard to create an icy wall of crystals. It was incredibly tough, and would keep the ice from freezing. I followed up with Scorch, using Sealsmith to create a layer of smelter.

"Amazing," Mom gasped as she looked at the giant plug I created. "Not even a Grenuke could break through this.

"Exactly. I just have one thing left to do," I replied, launching the Earth Elemental to complete the seal. It even expanded past it to prevent digging around it. "An Elemental Slug would have no problem against this, though."

"Indeed, it would be easy," the Earth Elemental told me.

"Thank you for helping us, and we would appreciate it if you would join us for future battles," I told him.

He nodded. "Of course, it would be our pleasure," he told us, each of them hopping into the bandoliers of the Gifted they chose. We thanked them once more and I turned to Mom.

"I need Mario, Kord, and Pronto to stay here to take charge of this outpost," I told her. "Can you tell them for me?"

She nodded and left, so I turned to Vinyl next. "I need you to make those slug suits for Burpy and Saphira. They are the symbols of the Shanes, and it would boost the morale of everyone if they saw their powered up form. Apollo can be taken care of later."

"I told you, I can only make them for our slugs, or they couldn't handle it," she began when I shook my head.

"Burpy and Saphira have more experience and are stronger than any of our slugs, they deserve it if nothing else. They may have been able to save Slugterra once before from the Dark Bane, but we're forcing a much more powerful threat," I explained. "Please, Vinyl."

She sighed, nodding. "Sure thing. It'll be easier because they're the same species of slug and equally powerful. Is Leo going to continue using Burpy or will he work with you?"

I shook my head. "Burpy will make that choice himself," I replied, so she nodded and started planning as we set up the outpost, sending half of our troops back to HQ to keep an eye on the place while we repurposed the remaining buildings that were still standing. The residents had already fled, so we set them up as barracks and command centers.

"Where's Kaiya?" I asked Luke as we took inventory. "I haven't heard from her since I was sent to the caves."

"She's searching for more of those weird energy-charged disks she gave us," he replied. "She apparently hid two more away somewhere, but when she reached them, they were gone. She's pissed so none of us argued when she left."

"Ah, makes sense," I replied. "If we could get more of them, we could have an almost unlimited amount of slug energy," I added. "Aren't you worried that the Dark Bane got her, though?"

He shook his head. "She's too scary for the Dark Bane to attack, even when she's alone. If she's in trouble, she's got all of our contact information. Anyway, come on, we need to check the food stores after this."

"Oh, right," I muttered, following after him.

We finished inventory by the end of the day, so we set off to put the finishing touches on the outpost. Surprisingly, the giant landmark of interlocking rings was still in place in the middle of the cavern, so we put the energy disk Kaiya gave us in it. According to Mom, that was where Kaiya got it from, so we put it back, the rings lighting up as grass started growing in the destroyed landscape.

"Amazing, what these disks can do to a cavern like this," I commented as we watched it dull and become a part of the landmark once again. We returned to HQ a couple days later and Vinyl and Mark got to work. We managed to have a full week of peace without an attack before the Dark Bane started their next campaign.

"From scouting reports, the Dark Bane haven't attacked any caverns, only going through them," Mario reported when we reached the outpost. He told us he found something, so we rushed there. "We've plotted their movements, and believe that they're going to Futura Cavern. They must be trying to prevent us from developing more weaponry. What do you suggest?" he asked us.

"We should head them off," I replied. "Mark, how many more of those tubes have you made?"

"Two hundred, I've managed to streamline the process," he replied.

"Good. Let's test it by blocking their advance. We will send a squad of ten slingers ahead of a group of one hundred. Those ten will include Mark and Mario, and the hundred will be led by Luke and Emma. You will be armed with the special tubes. Head them off in Herringbone Cavern. They'll have to cross the chasm there, so it'll be your best chance. Before the Dark Bane arrived, the bridges have been greatly improved, so Mark will need to use the Earth Elemental to take it out. You'll have to worry about Eels, I have a feeling that the special tubes will have no effect. Use your usual slugs to take them out. If they manage to find another way across, the secondary force will head them off there until you can arrive. Once done, destroy all bridges."

"How would we get across after that, though?" Mark asked me. "We'll lose any way to access Futuria."

"Earth Elemental, you could rebuild a bridge, correct?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yes, it would be simple with the aid of a GeoShard," he replied, so I nodded.

"There we go. Once you have done that, Leo, Vinyl, and I will lead a group of the scientists with us to join you and go to Futuria. There, you can complete your research with better equipment than what we have with us. It will advance our battle," I explained. "Any questions?"

"What will we do if Brimstone is leading the advance?" Mario asked me.

I frowned. "If that comes to pass, we will face him in combat. Even if we don't will, we will have to hold him off long enough for us to retreat and focus on protecting Futuria."

"What about our numbers, though?" Mom asked me. "If we spread ourselves too thin between these outposts, they could overtake them all before we could gather together."

I frowned. "I don't know. While we have a lot of people fighting with us, the Dark Bane have a hundred for every one of us. We need more fighters. Contact all of Blakk's former associates if you have to."

"What?" they all demanded.

"Even if they are evil at the core and want to rule Slugterra, they wouldn't want to rule a land that's been destroyed by the Dark Bane. A common enemy can unite those that once were enemies themselves. As much as I'm against it, we may need them. Mom, have Elina and Quora changed their minds about joining us?"

She shook her head. "No. Not even Junjie or their children will join us unless Quora does."

I swore. "If we had them, even if they number five, they could play a major part, especially Elina and Quora," I began when Mom's Holopad lit up. "Who is it?"

She looked at it and her face paled. "Elina," she replied before she answered the call. "What's wrong, Elina?"

Explosions sounded in the background. "The Dark Bane are attacking me! There are too many for me to defeat on my own! Please, help me!" she exclaimed before the line went dead.

"Let's go," I told them, grabbing my blasters. "Even if she didn't want to join us, we need to help her," I added, so they all grabbed their blasters.

"Her cavern is closer to HQ, so I'm sending an advance squad to get there first," Mom announced as we gathered a group of our own.

"Their advance on Futuria must've been a distraction. If we go after Elina, though, we may lose our chance to stop them before they reach Futuria," Mark added.

"That doesn't matter. Elina is one of us, that's all that matters," I told them. "Mom, can you contact Quora and tell her about the situation? She may be in trouble if they're targeting the Enchantresses."

"Already there," she replied, so we mounted our Mechas and took off, a hundred of us racing toward Elina's aid.

The advance squad reached her cavern first, so we soon received word of contact with the Dark Bane. Brimstone had sent three hundred of his Dark Bane to deal with Elina, so they started fighting. Elina could've dealt with a hundred or so on her own without losing control of herself, but that many were too much for her.

"Come on, come on…" I muttered, trying to get all of the speed I could out of Stryder. We arrived at the cavern ten minutes later, only to find destruction. All of our forces were safe, but the Dark Bane were all gone.

"We got your message and figured we'd help," a voice cut in. We looked and found a force easily numbering at least three times our own, led by an old man with graying hair and dark eyes.

"_Maurice_?" Mom demanded, startled.

"Wait, _the_ Maurice?" we all called out, just as surprised by his response.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again, my readers! I know, I'm just as surprised as you by my quick updating, but I'm on a roll. It looks like the tides have started to turn in the War for Slugterra. It looks like even Blakk's goons are turning toward the light, yay!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Slugterra or its characters, only my own. Hills-to-Sky owns Kaiya Skye, JackieWinters owns Elina, Quora, and Quora's kids, Create-gunner1209 owns Leo Shane and his slugs, Aist MoonSun owns Karina, and PLAINAWESOME owns Leon Blakk. I suggest you check them all out, they're amazing writers!**

**Until next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 - Maurice**

Maurice nodded. "Karina contacted me shortly after you received news of Ms. Shae's danger. These are all of Thaddeus and Leon's forces from before the Dark Bane appeared that I could gather with such short notice. We got here not long ago and your forces were on the verge of being defeated. They've set up camp over with Ms. Shae. Most of us have turned over new leafs since the Blakks died. Do we have your permission to join you, Shanes?" he asked us.

"Of course," Leo, Mom, and I replied. "Can you start by patrolling the borders while we help Elina?" I asked him, so he nodded.

"Anything you ask, we will do, Shane," he told me, his group taking off to set up patrols as we continued through the cavern to the place Elina lives.

"Are you okay, Elina?" Mom called out when she came into sight. She had a few bumps and bruises, but looked fine.

"Nothing a good night's sleep won't fix," she replied. "I take it Quora and her family are on their way?"

Mom nodded. "They'll be here soon. Has this made you change your stance on joining us?" Mom asked her.

Elina nodded. "As much as I think you could do it without me now that you have those strange tubes, I will join you, but not for myself. They harmed so many slugs in their attack, I don't know if this cavern will ever return to its former glory," she told us before turning to Mom. "How's Healer Springs?"

"Still standing, fortunately," Mom said softly.

"What's in Healer Springs?" I asked, curious. "Wasn't that were Kaiya Skye grew up?"

"Nothing, I'll explain when I have to, and yes, Kaiya grew up there," she replied. "Now, I need some time to pack my things and call my slugs," she told us, so we let her be as I walked over to Mom.

"Do you know what's in Healer Springs?" I asked her.

"Someone very precious to her," she replied softly, frowning for a second before she walked away.

"What was that about with Healer Springs?" Luke asked me.

"No clue, they won't say," I replied. "If it doesn't affect us, though, let's not get involved."

Elina was packed and ready to go half an hour later, so we all left, the remaining slugs hiding away to keep the cavern alive as we left for base.

When we returned, Quora and her family were already there, so Elina talked to them. Once again, she softly brought up Healer Springs, but they never went into detail.

"Until we can set up more permanent residences, you are welcome to pitch tents or hang hammocks in the trees with the rest of us," I told them once we had reached a clearing. There were already groups of people using slugs and their own two hands to construct crude huts out of slug-made bricks cured by Flaringos. Mark went to help for a bit with the Earth Elemental, creating entire huts with a single shot. It tired out the big guy, though, so he could only do a few at a time before he had to rest.

"If you need me for anything, just call me," Kaiya told me as she left. "I need to keep my home safe. It hasn't been attacked so far, but it's one of the one without sensors, so I'll need to be there to call it in," she explained.

"I understand, stay safe," I told her. "Oh, and do you have any idea why Elina is so concerned about someone in Healer Springs?"

Kaiya shrugged. "No clue, kid. See ya," she replied. I couldn't tell if she was lying or not, so I was still suspicious about her as Mom called me back to Shinai's hut for strategy meetings.

"Now that we have the Enchantresses and the Eastern Champion, as well as Maurice and his men, shouldn't we just attack _them_ instead of allowing them to make the first move?" Luke demanded. "We have the power."

"That is the problem, Luke," Mark told him. "Because we have them on our side now, Brimstone will most likely dispatch more of his Dark Bane to reinforce his claimed caverns. Nobody knows exactly how many he has with a pathway to home. If we attacked, we could be going against twice as many as last time, or more. We need to be careful. Now that Elina is safe with us, we need to focus on the chance that they might extend into Futura Cavern and cut off our source of tech and supplies. Jake's plan would be the best way to do so."

Mom nodded. "We can send out the teams in an hour once we're ready. Any problems with the plan?"

"Yeah. Instead of just cutting them off, why not just push them out of that cavern?" Luke asked, bringing up a holographic map of the cavern. "The part they're in is the smaller part of the cavern."

"As true as it may be, if we did that, they could instead blow the bridge once we cross it and overwhelm us with their reinforcements," I told him.

"What do you think, Junjie? You've been fairly quiet," Mom asked the Eastern Champion.

Junjie shook his head. "I don't know. Fighting the Emperor was one thing, but this is all-out war against and army whose numbers we do not know, and a limited amount of weaponry that can defeat them. Marcus, how many of the tubes can you make right now?"

"If we use just enough to take out a Dark Bane while still having enough for the bomb, we could have a total of…about two hundred now? We used a lot on the last battle, so we need to be more careful with how many we use," he told us.

I frowned. "I can get another crystal big enough," I replied.

"No."

The single word came from Shinai, who was sitting silently in her chair. "You were lucky to get a crystal that big as it is, I doubt it'd give you another one."

"Wait, are you talking about the Gift?" Emma asked, shocking both of us.

"H-How do you know this?" I demanded.

"It was in our letters," Vinyl told me. "We all know now, so your vow of silence is over."

I frowned but nodded. "Of course. Anyway, before we continue with the topic of the tubes, back to the original plan. You shouldn't need the tubes, but if you do, you will each get one. Use them only when you need to. A few Grenukes should be enough to take down each bridge, so if you need more, go to Quiet Lawn," I told Mom and Mark. "Don't take any Elementals, though. If anything happens, we can't lose them. They're our best way to deal with Brimstone."

Mom and Mark nodded. "We'll go to get ready," Mark told me.

"What about the rest of us?" Leo asked me.

"Stay on standby in case they need backup," I told them. "Quora, Elina, could you go with them to assist in the destruction of the bridges? Your powers would be greatly appreciated."

Quora nodded. "I'll go. Junjie?"

Junjie nodded in agreement. "Of course, I'll always have your back. Qai, Jazira, stay here. You haven't enough slugs or skill in combat to face Dark Bane."

"I think my friends and I can help with that," Leo told them, giving them assuring looks. "We'll stay behind to help you get new slugs and learn to sling them like a pro."

"Thank you," Junjie told him before they left as well. We gathered closer around the table, Vinyl starting up communications systems as we sat down. Leo took Qai and Jazira out as we watched the teams' progress.

"Luke, can you go tell Maurice's crew to get ready to go?" I asked him. Maurice returned to the cavern with us. Luke went, so it was soon just Vinyl, Emma, Shinai, Elina, and I gathered around the table as they went. It was a long journey there, but when they arrived, the Dark Bane had set up camp across the bridge. Before they could raise the alarm, the first volley of Grenukes were launched, and the gap widened with Quora's help so that Behemoths couldn't jump over it. She even rose the magma levels below a foot or so, making it harder for them to climb. It was a rather simple operation, as it was meant to be, so they were back an hour later as we set up for dinner.

"At least we have the Caverns' aid, or we'd be starving," Leo commented over dinner.

"Qai, Jazira, how did your training go?" Junjie asked his children, so they went into detail about how they were taught the Slinger's code, got a few more slugs, and learned more. Qai seemed confident he could beat me with more slugs, but I laughed.

"You may have more slugs than before, but I have many friends that have fought with me for much longer," I explained, "not to mention I can Ultramorph them."

"Yeah, it always seems to come down to that. Why can't you make a blaster to launch into Ultramorph?" he asked me.

"It's impossible with today's technology," I replied. "Vitalis Steel may be a breakthrough in metal alloys, but an Ultramorph accelerator would put too much torque on the steel, bending it out of shape just after charging up, and don't even get me started on what it would do to the bearings. Doing it our way only increases the slug's power, not the accelerator's speed. Maybe in a few decades, if it's even physically possible, but certainly not today," I explained, leaning back against the tree I would be sleeping in.

That night, I fell into a deep and carefree sleep, not knowing that, in a few hours, Healing Springs Caverns would go under attack.

_That night, Healer Springs Cavern, Kaiya's POV…_

"C'mon, Jet, time for some sleep," I told Jet, getting comfortable in my bed as my companion laid in her own bed. I had patrolled the cavern until I could barely keep my eyes open, and set Skies to sentry mode so that he could continue patrolling. I wasn't even asleep for an hour, though, when alarms went off. "Skies!" I called out, running out of my home as Skies roared and ran up to me. There were sensors going off with Dark Energy all over the cavern, so I sent a report to the Shanes before Skies took off at full speed. I alone couldn't save the cavern I grew up in, but I could save a certain someone, so I pushed Skies to the limit as I raced to the facility. When I reached it, though, it was dark.

"No…" I whispered, running to the doors, which were flung open with great force. Pulling up the cameras, there was nobody inside. The Dark Bane must have targeted her first. "Dammit!" I screamed, taking off for the entrance. If I could go fast enough, I could cut them off before they could escape. When I arrived, though, there was a Behemoth. "Damn," I growled when it noticed me. Skies may be strong, but a Behemoth is something Shane would have to handle with his wacky abilities.

The Behemoth decided to chase me, so I spent the next hour or so running from the massive creatures before Shane arrived with backup. Elina and Quora led the way, blasting Dark Bane aside as Young Shane took down the Behemoth with a fusion blast.

"Where is she?" Elina screamed at me as I went over to them.

I hung my head low, guilt flooding through me for the first time in a while. "When I reached the facility, it was empty. That Behemoth was keeping me from giving chase. I'm sorry, I couldn't get her in time."

Elina's eyes widened as she stumbled back a step like I hit her. "No…" she gasped.

"Who are you talking about?" Shane called out.

_Jake's POV…_

"Who are you talking about?" I demanded as Quora supported Elina. "Who are you so worried about?"

Before Elina could respond, Mark got our attention. "There's a live feed coming in from the Dark Bane," he told us.

"Bring it up!" Elina yelled, running over to him. He pulled up a holographic screen with Brimstone's face.

"Hello, Slugterra. Enchantress, watch carefully," he growled, lifting a figure by the head. She was probably a couple years older than me, and her light blue hair looked like Elina's. When she opened her eyes, they were red and black.

"Mom…help me…" she whimpered, her eyes flashing back to a blue that startled Leo and I, as that color was all too familiar.

"Oh, god, Caitlin…" Elina cried.

"Unless you wish for me to kill the one you hold most dear, surrender to me. Your Eastern friends, too. You have two days to come to me, my men will not attack unless you attack first," he growled before the line went dead.

"Elina, who was that, and why does she have Eli's eyes?" I demanded.

She looked at all of us. "Caitlin is my daughter. As for her eyes, Eli is her father."

* * *

**A/N: Hello, all! I was trying to think of inspiration for this chapter when Caitlin came to me suddenly. Well, it seems that Ellie had her own secrets.**

**I do not own Slugterra, only my own characters, including Caitlin. Elina, Quora, and Quora's kids belong to JackieWinters, Kaiya Skye belongs to Hills-to-Sky, Leo belongs to Create-Gunner1209, and Karina belongs to Aist MoonSun**

**Until next time, dicarten-ice out!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 - Her Daughter?**

"What are you talking about? How did we never find out? Why didn't Dad tell us I have a half-sister and Jake has another cousin?" Leo demanded, but I had a feeling I knew why.

"That's because Eli himself never knew," Mom told us.

"Wait, _you_ knew?" I demanded.

"Of course, she knew. I kept her secret about you before you found out, and she kept my secret," Elina replied. "A few months before Eli left me for Trixie, we…spent a night together," she told us. "When I knew I was pregnant with Caitlin, Eli was with Trixie. I didn't want to ruin their relationship, because we all know he would've left her do to the right thing. Caitlin Elsa Shae was born about two years before you, Jake. I raised her in a facility in this cavern, much like where Leo grew up. Kaiya protects it, so I knew it would be safe from normal attacks. Only Kaiya, Karina, and Quora knew about it. She never told Junjie because of how good friends they are," she explained. "As you saw with her eyes, she inherited a portion of my powers. She's never made the change, though…I feel so bad."

"Don't, it was my fault. I should've kept her safe," Kaiya told her.

"It's not your fault, you don't have the equipment to deal with Dark Bane yourself," Elina told her. "Now, I need to go. Brimstone's base of operations is a day's journey form here."

"Wait, you can't be serious about joining him!" I told her.

"I have to. Would you do anything if Karina's life was held in the balance? What about Emma?" she asked me.

"I would, but only as a last resort," I told her. "We will save her Elina, but not by sacrificing the Enchantresses. Without you, we have no hope of defeating Brimstone, no matter how many bombs are built. Don't forget, she's technically a Shane, too, and we Shanes help each other out."

Leo nodded. "That's right. Mark, if we went in right now, what chance would we have of reaching Brimstone without being captured?" he asked Mark.

"With our armory as it is and their numbers what they are, incredibly slim," he replied. "We have very few tubes left after the bridge, and not enough crystal."

"Try this," Mom told him, sending him a design for a strange spherical device with a pin. "It's a weapon from the surface. Can you rig it to detonate and release the crystal's energy? It probably wouldn't require big ones, Futura's could work."

Mark looked it over, nodding. "Yes. With smaller crystals, it shouldn't take as long to build, so I can have a few dozen ready by tomorrow. How many are you thinking?"

Mom smiled slightly. "Hundreds. Kord, can you have the forges start making them?"

Kord nodded. "Yeah, but we need a lot of Vitalis crystals."

"That's no problem. I have a feeling that, if this could end the war, they'd be willing to empty their reserves," I told him. "I can go there now and tell them." Mom nodded, so I hopped onto Stryder and took off, supercharging the engines to cut the time in half.

When I arrived, Mark's father was already waiting with a massive cart full of crystals. "Mark called ahead. If this means we won't lose this war, we're willing to empty our reserves. We've still plenty of them beneath the cavern."

"Thank you, your contribution is appreciated," I thanked him, hooking Stryder up to the cart. They provided an oxen Mecha Beast to help, and I sat on the top of the cart in case trouble came looking for a fight. With the two Mecha Beasts working, I made it to the base in an hour, dropping off a few dozen crystals for Mark before I went to the forges, which were already fired up and ready to go. I gave them the rest of the crystals and they started working as I raced back.

"Here's the first, try it out," Mark told me when he finished one. I tossed it into the air and it exploded on contact with the ground. It let out a bright light, and I even felt a bit of strength enter my body.

"It'll work. Is the bomb ready?" I asked him.

He nodded, gesturing to a large box. "It's rather simple, but the box prevents any shakes in transit from setting it off early. Given Brimstone's approximated power, it should weaken him enough for us to take him out."

"Good. Could you carry it into battle?" I asked him. "You and Vinyl will protect the bomb as we clear the way. When we reach him, we'll distract you long enough to plant it, and we'll steer him into it. When it weakens him, we'll kick it up a notch, and when we're ready, you, Vinyl, and I will launch Speedy, Yang, and Apollo into Ultramorph while the rest of them keep him still. Apollo says it's the only way to defeat him."

Mark nodded. "Sounds good, that is the best way. To use any of the other Gifted would remove fighters from the fight to keep him still. Now, I need time to construct some more of these devices. Go…train or something," he told me, so I went outside. Everyone else's slugs seemed to have received a slug-enhancing device from Vinyl, and the rest of mine did as well. To get used to it, I trained a bit against Leo.

"Wow, this is a whole different level," I gasped as Brisingr managed to beat Burpy in a showdown. I followed up with Speedy, but Leo managed to take him down this time with a rapid fire combo of a Jellyish and Flaringo. He followed up with Save, but I in turn replied with Yang and Brisingr, using a fusion of the two with my staff. I didn't really expect it to work but the two combined to form a dark blue Infernus with smoke instead of flames. The fusion slug managed to take down came with a Shadowkan made of dark blue flames, and defeated Leo with a Wingburst that released dark shadows. The shadows made him dizzy and fall as I claimed the victory.

"Where'd you learn that combo?" Leo demanded, returning to his feet.

I shrugged. "Intuition? Luck? Both?" I replied. "I think it'd be good if we could learn more fusions that we could use in battle for a bit more power," I added, calling over all my slugs and an Enigmo. "Can you show us slugs that will work in a fusion shot? I asked him, so he used his powers to first highlight my Forgesmelter and Dirt Urchin. I loaded them into my staff and launched them at a target. The resulting slug looked like a Dirt Urchin, but his thorns were made of magma that he launched into the target, melting through it.

"Cool," I whispered. We spent the rest of the day testing out new fusions before we turned in for the night.

"Tomorrow morning, we will leave for the Dark Bane's headquarters," Mom told us. "If we cannot rescue Caitlin by the end of the day, Brimstone will kill her, or worse. Kord, any word back from the forges?"

Kord nodded. "They've finished up the last of the Vitalis crystals and are bringing them over during the night with a Shadow Clan escort. Are you absolutely sure this will work, Jake? We're sending in all of our best fighters for a last-ditch attack. If we lose this, not only are the 99 Caverns lost, but the Eastern Caverns are lost, as well as the Surface."

I nodded. "I know. If we don't, though, Brimstone could turn Caitlin dark like Leon did to Elina," I replied. "Even though Elina says she isn't as strong as her mother, Caitlin could probably take out the rest of us, and if we gave up Elina and Quora, he'd probably turn them against us, and nobody would survive both Enchantresses going dark."

Kord nodded. "I see your point. You know, your father would be proud of who you've become. Not just Jacob Taylor, but Eli, too. He'd be happy to see who you've become and how far you've come," he told me.

I smiled, nudging his outstretched fist with my own. "Thanks, Kord. Anyway, I need to ask Mom about numbers," I told him, walking away to where my mother was looking over a table covered in papers. "Mom?" I asked her.

She looked up at me after a few seconds. Her fatigue was plain in her eyes, just as it was in a lot of ours. Taking down Blakk may have been one thing, but he wasn't a killer If we made a mistake, people would die. "Yeah, fine. What is it?" she replied, stretching.

"How many people should we take with us? Should we take all of them, or just us?" I asked her.

She sighed, looking over her papers tiredly. "Well, this is our last push, right? If we get Caitlin back, we'll have a chance to hit Brimstone and end this for good. We may as well go all-out," she replied, trying not to yawn.

"C'mon, Mom. You're no good if you're dead on your feet," I told her, helping her out of the room. She kept telling me she was fine, but I cut her off every time.

"If you stay awake all night, you could fall asleep tomorrow during the battle, and I don't want to lose you because of your own stubbornness," I told her.

She chuckled. "I guess it's a Shane trait. I see your point, kiddo. Let's go," she told me, walking to her hut. Once I was sure she was going to sleep, I left her to get in a bit more training with Apollo.

"You know, you should take your own advice and get some sleep," Emma called out from nearby when I missed a shot.

"I can't, I'm not good enough yet," I replied, loading Yang and firing. This time, though, Emma ran in and grabbed Yang before he could enter Velocimorph.

"Enough," she told me, launching a Hypnogrif to knock me out. When I woke up again, very early the next morning, I found Emma curled up against me. "Mm, good morning," she groaned as she woke up, stretching as she turned to me, kissing me lightly.

"You know, I could really get used to waking up like this," I told her, sitting up.

"I guess that's another reason to win tonight," she replied, leaving to get dressed as I got ready. I made sure all of my slugs were awake and ready to go, my blades secure on my back. I made sure to grab a few extra weapons from my chest before we gathered near the entrance with everyone else. A few hundred of us were gathered there. Some looked scared, well, most of them looked scared, but they all knew what the coming battle was about, what the stakes were, and were ready to fight for themselves, their families, and their homes. The weapons from the forges were in, and each of us in the main forces were given five, and the rest were given two or three. We even had a group of a dozen of them carrying a few dozen with strange blasters to launch them. After inspirational speeches from Mom and I, they were pumped up and ready to go, so we left for the nearest Dark Bane-controlled cavern, three away.

"We're coming upon the entrance to the cavern," Vinyl told us. "Mark, is the bomb still stable?"

He nodded, so I raised my staff into the air, signaling for a halt.

"Everyone!" I called, standing on Luke's shoulders for extra height. "Here we will face our enemy in battle! The results not only affect our lives, but those of our family, friends, and loved ones!" I glanced at Emma for a second before turning back to them. "I know that many of you are scared. Honestly, so am I, but do you know what it is that keeps me here to lead you all? It is you, each and every one of you, and your families! Some of us may lose our lives," some people shuffled around a bit, "but know that this is all to rid this land of the cursed Dark Bane! If you do not survive this battle, your names will be remembered as heroes when we win this, just as with those of you who survived. I promise this on my title as the Shane, we will win this battle! Let us go, now, and show the Dark Bane true fear!" I roared to them all. As I returned to Stryder, they all broke out into cheers as I raised my staff horizontally. "CHARGE!"

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**A/N: Hello, again! I know, it's surprising that another chapter's out again, and I'm sorry it's a bit shorter, but I'm on a roll and don't wanna stop. It looks like Jake has another empowering speech for everyone before they charge into the Battle for Slugterra.**

**As you know, I don't own Slugterra or its characters. For a list of characters and their owners, check the previous chapter.**

**Until next time, see ya!**


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